The Secret to being Sheldon
by notjaneausten
Summary: Sheldon has struck up a friendship with a fellow scientist in an online chatroom and reluctantly agrees to meet with her as they will be attending the same conference in Chicago. They decide to meet in a small coffee shop near to his apartment but when they do finally get together it appears that they have met before... Very AU and doesn't follow TV time. Usual disclaimer applies.
1. Chapter 1

**Screen Name: Biogirl**

**Occupation: Neurobiologist**

**IQ: 198**

**Stringboy: Don't leave me hanging, what did he say next?**

**Biogirl: That he didn't like glycol ether!**

Sheldon let out a breathy chuckle as he read the punchline and Howard looked over from where he was discussing a problem at the lab with Sheldon's roommate, Leonard.

"What's up with him today? He's laughing to himself again and not made one snarky comment about my lack of a doctorate all afternoon; it's not like Sheldon to be so quiet."

"He met a girl…" Leonard said drolly, and when his friend's jaw dropped, patted him on the shoulder, grinning widely. "Don't panic, Howard, not a real one."

"Like Siri?" Howard asked with a chuckle, referring to the intelligent personal assistant on their iPhone's.

"Almost, Sheldon met a girl in an online chat room for high IQ doctors. He was looking for someone new to play his word game with and she popped up on screen asking why he was concerned with something so banal. Now, they've made up some stupid ass game about what the world would be like if so and so happened…you need to be a freaking genius to even understand half of the rules. They talk every day at six o'clock and it can go on for hours." Leonard glanced over at where Sheldon's fingers were flying across his keyboard before turning back to his own laptop. "It's been great." He whispered to Howard, "Last night he didn't even notice that I watched three whole episodes of Babylon 5 and he was sitting right there!" The two men chuckled as they stared at the 3D schematic on Leonard's monitor, and Howard leant forward to enlarge something that caught his eye. He was just about to open his mouth to speak when Sheldon let out an excited squeal from the couch.

"Biogirl is going to be attending the conference next month in Chicago!" Sheldon was excited about the conference on two levels; one he was making the key note address at the start of the physics seminar and secondly he was going to make the journey to Chicago by train. He'd booked a week off before the conference was due to start and was going the whole 2265 distance on the South West Chief, journeying through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and a whole host of our states before reaching his final destination some 40 odd hours later. Sheldon's excited tone dropped lower as he read the end of the message. "Oh…she wants to meet up." Leonard swivelled his chair around to raise an eyebrow in question as he looked at his friend.

"I thought you'd be leaping at the chance to finally meet the girl that you said, and I quote 'was your intellectual equal on every level'…"

"And she is, despite the fact that her IQ is at least 10 points higher than my own. I don't have any preconceived notions of what she might be like in reality as her mind is what I am drawn to; I am a Homo Novus, Leonard and it doesn't matter one jot whether she is tall and shapely or small and curvy…" Sheldon's tone held a note of wistfulness that had Leonard looking sharply at his friend, but then Sheldon shook his head in an effort to banish the stray memory that threatened his peaceful exterior. "We are perfectly happy as we are…why does she suddenly want to change that? I think it might be quite exciting to attend a conference knowing that the other will be there, but never knowing who they were precisely…it would be quite the puzzle, don't you think?"

"Why don't you tell her that then?" Howard suggested, "Or," He leant forward a little rubbing his hands together as he thought of something a little sneaky.

"Yes?"

"Why don't you tell her that you want to meet her in that little coffee shop a few blocks away? Get her to wear something distinctive that will make her stand out, Raj and I can get a seat at the back of the shop; set up a little live camera feed that feeds to you in the car…you can then take a look and decide whether you want to meet her or not."

"Sounds like something from a spy thriller to me, and highly illegal to boot." Leonard remarked from the chair and the other two just hushed him.

"It's from 'The Shop around the Corner' actually." Howard muttered behind his hand. "Ma had it on last weekend. It's about two pen pal's that decide to meet up and the guy recognises the girl as someone he works with and doesn't reveal that he's her pen pal. They made a remake a few years ago with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks."

"Perfect…I can observe her from a distance whilst preserving my anonymity. I'll have the upper hand at the conference knowing exactly who she is." Sheldon started up a new conversation with Biogirl and glanced at Howard, waiting for details.

"Make it four thirty on Saturday at The Coffee Company on the corner of Main and Vine. Raj and I will get there around four so that we can spot her when she comes in…Tell her to step up to the counter and order a drink at precisely four thirty five and we'll know our target."

"Okay….sending now."

**Stringboy: Have decided maybe prudent to meet after all. How about 4:30 this Saturday at The Coffee Company in Pasadena?**

**Biogirl: It's a date! **

**Stringboy: It is certainly not a date! We will just be two like-minded individuals meeting over a cup of tea…Please order a drink at 4:35 and let me know what you will be wearing so that I will know who you are**

**Biogirl: I'll wear a purple cardigan and order a glass of water. See you there!**

"Oh no you won't little lady…" Sheldon breathily chuckled again as he signed off, closing his laptop with a satisfied sigh. "All set, she'll wear a purple cardigan and order a glass of water."

"This is gonna be great! It's like we're secret agents of SHIELD or something." Howard grabbed his jacket from behind Leonard and pulled it on.

"Wait! Where are you off to? Don't you want to work some more on your problem?" Leonard pointed at the rotating image on his screen and Howard waved him away.

"Nah, I think I see where the kink is coming from…I need to get over to Raj's place and fill him in on Saturday, have a little strategy meeting and start getting the camera feed set up. Later guys!" In a flash he was gone, Leonard switched off his laptop and turned around to talk to Sheldon only to find he had disappeared into his room as well.

"More Babylon 5 for me then." He murmured to himself as he picked up the DVD control and settled back for another thrilling adventure in space.


	2. Chapter 2

**Screen Name: Stringboy**

**Occupation: Theoretical Physicist**

**IQ: 187**

"All set, can you see everything clearly Sheldon?" Howard murmured as he held his phone against his ear, while Raj made a few adjustments to the pinhole camera attached to one of the ornamental badges on Howard's shirt collar.

_"Turn a little to the left, I can't quite see the counter…that's better. Now, I trust that this is merely a live feed and not a recording device? I have no wish for Homeland Security to be calling up my mother again…apparently they take a dim view to someone hacking into their supercomputer to purchase uranium; I only needed a small amount and they tattled straight to Mama."_

"It's not recording Sheldon, don't panic. It's nearly time…" Howard turned slowly so that Sheldon could get a complete 360 view of the entire café. "There's a couple of women chatting by the window, she could have brought a friend along."

_"Biogirl said she didn't have many friends outside of work, which is one of the reasons for her wanting to meet me before the conference."_

"Okay…a couple cuddled up in the far corner…can't be them…wait, someone's just walked in and sat down a few tables in front of us…" Howard sat up straighter and held the phone closer to his ear.

_"I can't see a thing…she's facing the wrong way. We're just going to have to wait until she orders."_

"She is wearing a purple striped cardigan though, it could be her." Raj leant over, bringing up a newspaper to hide his face as he whispered to Howard. Howard nodded, and kept watching the woman as she pulled out her cellphone from the depths of her bag.

"Sheldon, is she going on line to contact you?" Howard asked, watching as her fingers tapped out a message on the screen, squinting as he tried to make out what she was writing but they were a little too far away.

_"Whoever she's contacting, it's not me. I'm not currently logged in over at the chatroom, she would see that as soon as she connected. I don't think this is the right woman; maybe Biogirl decided not to show after all."_ Sheldon sounded a little disappointed and Howard hid a smile. Raj suddenly tapped him on the arm and both men looked up to see the woman heading for the counter.

"Sheldon, she's on the move! Are you getting a clear view of her face?" Howard murmured into his phone and turned further toward the counter. Sheldon didn't respond and Howard pulled the phone away from his ear to see that Sheldon had disconnected the call. "That's odd, he cut me off."

"Perhaps he's given up and gone home." Raj suggested and Howard shrugged, sliding the phone into his pocket and preparing to stand.

"Tepid water, please." The woman at the counter requested, and tapped her fingers nervously on her bag as she waited. Raj hissed at Howard and pulled him back down into his seat.

"It is her! Did you hear? She ordered water!" Howard nodded as he leant forward slightly to get a better view of the woman. She was a small brunette with shoulder length straight hair that was pulled behind her ears and held back by a hairgrip above each ear. She was slightly curvy, accentuated by her sensible knee length black skirt and thick woollen tights. Raj winced a little as he saw the plaid blouse she was wearing under the stripy cardigan and muttered to Howard behind his hand.

"Hardly a fashion statement…" Howard chuckled a little at the remark, and straightened up when he saw Sheldon barrel through the coffee shops main entrance, heading straight for the woman and tapping her on the shoulder.

"Yes?" She said as she slowly turned around and the glass slid slowly out of her hand as she gasped in shock. Sheldon lunged forward to catch the glass before it could hit the floor and Howard saw that his hand was trembling as he placed it gently on the counter. "Sheldon?" The woman whispered so softly that Howard could barely hear her and she reached out a hand toward the taller man, hesitating slightly before resting her fingers lightly against his cheek. Sheldon closed his eyes as he absorbed her soft touch, it had been so long!  
>"Amy…" He murmured and reached up a hand to cover her own. "Oh God….I can't believe you're really here…Am I dreaming or are you actually standing in front of me?"<p>

"If you're dreaming then I am too…and I don't ever want to wake up." At her soft words, Sheldon whirled around and enfolded her in his arms and burying his head against her neck. Soft sobs emanated from his chest, and the woman ran her hands through his hair, murmuring reassurances in his ear.

Howard just sat there staring at the couple embracing at the counter, he looked over at Raj who was equally shocked.

"I've been looking for you for so long, Amy…where were you?"

"I've been right here in California, for most of the time anyway. I got my doctorate and have been working at UCLA for about five years now. What about you?"

"I'm at Cal-Tech; got my second doctorate there and I'm working as a theoretical physicist. I share an apartment with a colleague at the university just a few blocks away."

"Wait a minute!" Amy leant back against Sheldon's arm and stared up into his familiar face. "Are you 'Stringboy'?"  
>"Biogirl?" They both chuckled a little as they realised that they had been communicating together for nearly a month and not put two and two together before now.<p>

"I might have guessed it was you, Stringbean." Amy murmured, gently caressing the side of Sheldon's face, and he turned his head to press a soft kiss against her palm.

"I haven't heard that name for a long time, not since our last summer at Harvard." Sheldon's eyes glistened a little at the memory and Amy wiped her thumb under his eye to wipe away the dampness that collected there.

"It was a great year up until then, wasn't it?"  
>"The best…" He whispered softly, giving her that special smile reserved only for her. "How do you feel about getting out of here?" Amy nodded as she threaded her hand through his arm.<p>

"Where to?"

"My place, we need to have a conversation that's long overdue…" Sheldon's eyes were filled with sadness as he looked down at the woman on his arm. She leant her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes at the pain his words wrought, Sheldon touched her cheek lightly and gave her a reassuring smile. "Nothing like that, I promise."

"Did you see that? Sheldon actually hugged a woman!" Raj kept hitting Howard's arm with excitement and the smaller man finally pulled it out of reach.

"I saw it, I'm having a hard time believing it but I saw it." Howard shook his head with disbelief. "I didn't even know Sheldon went to Harvard!"

"Perhaps Leonard knows…they've been sharing an apartment for nearly five years…give him a call and find out." Raj nudged Howard's arm and prompted him to pump Sheldon's roommate for information.

"Okay." Howard pulled out his phone and dialled Leonard's cell, waiting for him to pick up; as soon as the other man said hello, Howard started questioning him. "Leonard, are you at home?"

"No, I'm over at Penny's helping her set up her new DVD player, why?"

"Sheldon took a girl back to the apartment and they seemed very cosy together!"

"Shut up!" Leonard sputtered, going to a coughing fit caused by shock and Penny patted him on the back until he recovered. Leonard was shocked, but not for the reasons the others suspected…he knew a little something about Sheldon that none of the others did and he wasn't about to betray his friend for the thrill of spreading malicious gossip.

"He ever mention a girl named Amy to you?" Howard asked as he and Raj crowded around the tiny microphone of his phone. Penny mouthed the name to Leonard and he shrugged lightly, hoping to pull off a blasé attitude.

"Not that I can recall. I thought he was meeting his chat room friend this afternoon?"

"He did…and she turned out to be this Amy woman that he apparently already knows. They were hugging and everything!" Howard said and Raj leant forward to speak.

"Get the drinks out, we're on our way over…you know something Leonard, I can tell from the sound of your voice, it's no good trying to hide it."

"I don't know anything…" Leonard protested but it was too late, Howard had already disconnected the call. Leonard sat back on the couch and groaned as he ran his hands through his hair. He looked up to see Penny tapping her foot against the carpet, and he held up his hand.

"I really don't know very much at all…Until just now I didn't even know her name." Leonard leant forward, lacing his hands together and letting them dangle between his knees. "Sheldon isn't as asexual as he lets people think."

"Go on." Penny encouraged, leaning forward slightly to urge him on. Leonard sighed heavily as he got to his feet, sitting on the window ledge and staring out into the warm afternoon sun.

"Ever wonder why Sheldon gets a little quiet around July time?" He glanced over and saw Penny nod. "He tends to take a couple of days off around that time and sits in his room going through old photo albums. He left one open on his bed one day when I went in to borrow something to read and there was this photo of him and a young woman just smiling at each other as they shared an ice cream cone."

"I find that hard to believe…Sheldon doesn't share his food with anyone." Penny remarked, remembering an incident involving a portion of onion rings.

"Well, he did back then, the photo was at least ten years old and it looks like one of the Harvard buildings in the background. He mentioned something about spending a couple of years as a visiting professor after he got back from Germany; I guess that would put him at around nineteen or so."

"I thought Germany was a one-time thing, and he went straight to Cal-Tech after that." Penny frowned as she tried to piece together the timeline, and saw Leonard shaking his head.

"No, I do know that he spent a year or so at Rice back in Texas before he came out here, he's got a diploma on the wall at work."

"Why hasn't he ever mentioned Harvard to any of us?" Penny got up to answer a knock at the door, pulling it open to see Howard and Raj both trying to push through the doorway at the same time. "Steady boys, Leonard was just filling me in on Sheldon's secret lady."  
>"Did this Amy happen to have wavy brown hair and glasses?" Leonard asked as he pushed away from the window ledge and stuck his hands in his pockets.<p>

"She had brown hair, but it was kind of blah looking." Raj said with a little frown, "It was hanging straight down and clipped back with one of those little push in grips; she did wear glasses though."

Leonard glanced over at Penny and gave her a slight nod, "It has been a while, I guess she could have changed her hair since those days." There was something else significant about the photograph that Leonard wisely decided to keep to himself. "I think Sheldon met her at Harvard when he was a visiting professor for a brief time. She must have been a student there at the time, and they were friends."

"Why's he never talked about it then? What's the big secret?"

"I don't know guys." Leonard held up his hand again, "I say that honestly…I don't know, but whatever reason there was it hurt him enough to want to lock it away and try to forget about it. I've only ever seen the one photograph, Sheldon came back into the room and locked them all away and we've never spoken about it."

"You could casually wander over there and find out what's going on…it is half your apartment after all." Howard stated looking longingly at the front door, and then glancing over at Leonard. The other man just folded his arms across his chest and refused to budge.

"I'm not going to do that, Sheldon is my friend and is entitled to his privacy. If he wanted us to know about Amy he would have told us about her already."

"I agree with Leonard. This woman is obviously someone important to Sheldon, don't you think Raj?" Penny glanced over to where the Indian man had been perched on the edge of the couch, only to find herself addressing thin air. Her eyes widened as she saw her front door standing ajar. "Raj, get back in here!" Penny and the guys raced across the living room and out into the hall to see Raj kneeling outside of Sheldon's apartment with his ear pressed against the door.

"Sshh…They were talking just a moment ago and now Sheldon's gone all quiet and I can't hear anything….Uh-oh, that sounds like someone crying…should we go in?" Raj looked over his shoulder, concern etched on his caramel coloured face, Leonard shook his head and tried to lead the astrophysicist away from the door.

"Leave them alone Raj, Sheldon will deal with it himself."

"But you know how bad he is with feelings…he calls them hippy dippy and unnecessary." Raj exclaimed and clapped his hand over his mouth as his eyes darted toward the door. Howard grabbed his arm and pointed him toward Penny's apartment as the rumble of voices warned them that someone was approaching the door. All four of them just made it across the hallway as Sheldon's door opened.

"Funny…I could have sworn I heard voices from the hallway." Leonard peered out through the spy hole in Penny's front door and saw the red rimmed eyes of his roommate scanning the hallway. "Are you feeling better now, sugar?"

"Did you hear that? Sheldon called her 'sugar'!" Raj squealed in excitement and beamed over at Penny, who couldn't help but smile back in return. Leonard shushed him and turned back to the spyhole, just in time to see Amy reaching up her hand to draw Sheldon back inside the apartment.

"That's enough, let's leave them alone." Leonard said as he turned away from the door. "They've got a lot of time to catch up on."

"Well, I might as well get back to Ma's then if we're not going over there." Howard muttered crossly, and Raj reluctantly agreed, having driven over with Howard to the coffee shop.

"Yeah, I've got a bar shift to get too as well." Penny said as she waved her apron in the air in mock enthusiasm. "What a lucky girl I am."

"Don't worry, Penny. You'll get that big movie role one day and all of this will be but a distant memory." Penny smiled at Raj's vision of the future and gave him peck on the cheek in thanks.

"Is it okay if I hang out here for a little while?" Leonard asked and Penny nodded.

"Sure sweetie, stay as long as you like; my only wish is that you finish getting that thing hooked up before you go." Penny blew him a kiss as she prepared to leave, hooking her arm through the crook of Raj's elbow as they started for the door. "So, Raj…let me tell you about this cute blonde that started at the restaurant a few weeks ago…"

Leonard waited until he couldn't hear the sound of their footsteps anymore and then swiftly hooked the DVD to the TV; he'd only been drawing out the process in order to spend more time with Penny. He tested the player to check that it was working correctly and then switched everything off again and leaving the apartment. He hesitated briefly outside of his own apartment before using his keys to let himself in, making sure that he kept his back turned to the couch.

"Hey Sheldon…" He said as he performed his usual pantomime of hooking his jacket over the back of his swivel chair and throwing his keys in the porcelain bowl on the stand next to the door. He turned around slowly and then stopped in his tracks. "Oh, sorry…I didn't realise you had company."

"That's quite alright Leonard, after all it is your apartment as much as it is mine." Sheldon had been so wrapped up in his own conversation that he had missed the slight hesitation in Leonard's voice, otherwise he might have seen the relieved expression flitter across his roommate's face as he realised that Sheldon hadn't realised that Leonard had been making a production of entering the apartment. "Amy…" Sheldon began, "This is my roommate Leonard. We work together in the Physics department at Cal-Tech." Sheldon waved his hand over at his roommate and the small brunette gave him a warm smile, Leonard waved in return. Sheldon clasped Amy's hand tightly within his own and turned slightly to face Leonard. "Leonard, I'd like you to meet Amy…my wife."


	3. Chapter 3

Whatever Leonard had expected Sheldon to say, it certainly wasn't that. He tapped his ear and asked Sheldon to repeat his last words. Sheldon just smiled wryly.

"You heard me just fine, your last physical didn't state that you were experiencing any loss of hearing. I realise that this might have come as a bit of a shock but please understand that I had perfectly valid reasons for keeping it to myself."

"When…?" Leonard stumbled across the living room and practically fell into the armchair, still trying to process the news. Amy leant her head against Sheldon's shoulder and raised her brow at her husband, who smiled slightly giving her a small nod of approval.

"Stringbean and I met when I was just finishing up my graduate studies at Harvard before starting on my doctoral thesis. I had a free afternoon so decided to sit in on a lecture or two just for the fun of it. I started asking a few questions, Stringbean asked me to join him in a cup of tea…one thing led to another and we started dating."

"Amy even flew down to Texas with me for Christmas, Meemaw took to her right away." Sheldon said as he remembered their one and only Christmas together, Amy nuzzled her chin against his shoulder and Sheldon smoothed her hair back behind her ear. Leonard watched their movements as they sat close to each other, every touch seemed perfectly natural to them and it was in stark contrast to how Sheldon normally behaved.

"It was the best time of my life…so we decided to get married while we were down there."

"Wait! You got married in Texas…with your mother and everyone there?" Leonard was astounded at the news, he had assumed that the couple had married in a quiet civil ceremony in Cambridge.

"Really Leonard? You think my Mama would have allowed her baby to get married in some hole in the wall ceremony? Perhaps you were thinking that we snuck off to be married at a glittery chapel in Las Vegas and the ceremony was performed by some Elvis impersonator?" Sheldon shuddered at the very idea, and Leonard quickly apologised.

"Sorry buddy, I know you too well to think that…however they so have Star Trek chapels in Vegas too, you know!"

"How about we show him the pictures, sweetheart? You do still have them, don't you?"

"Of course I still have them! I could never get rid of them, they were all I had left of you…They're in the lock box under my bed."

"Same combination?"

"Of course…122404…our anniversary." Sheldon smiled sweetly at Amy and both men watched as she headed down the hallway into Sheldon's room.

"Wow, now I know for sure that she's your wife…you're actually letting a girl into your room." Leonard said with a smile and Sheldon leant forward, a serious look on his face.

"I know you saw the photo, Leonard…and probably have a whole heap of questions to throw at me…but please, don't bring it up when Amy's here. It's still incredibly hard for her to talk about." Leonard gulped hard and nodded, knowing exactly what Sheldon was talking about. Sheldon's smile was a little forced as he glanced up to see Amy smiling broadly as she flicked through the album.

"God…I can't believe how wild my hair was back then! Oh, and look at you dancing with Meemaw…you looked so handsome in your tuxedo." Amy slipped the photo out of it's protective covering and handed it over for Leonard to look at.

"Is this really you, Sheldon? You look so different." Leonard saw how happy and carefree his friend looking in the photo, his hair slightly ruffled and his whole demeanour screamed of someone perfectly content with his life.

"That was us just after the ceremony…" Amy pulled another photo from the album, her fingers running over the image as she smiled. "It took hours to get all of that birdseed out of my hair." The photo showed the newlyweds emerging from the church as they were showered with birdseed and coloured confetti.

"You got married in a church, I bet your mother was pleased about that." Leonard looked up from the photo and caught Sheldon shifting uncomfortably in his spot.

"I may not have been entirely honest with you about my aversion to religious aspects…Back then I was a little more willing to embrace the idea of an all knowing deity and attended regular church services. It seemed only natural that we should celebrate our union before God…it was only later that I changed my mind." Sheldon's eyes begged Leonard not to press him for details and he silently agreed, knowing that whatever had happened was enough to turn the other man completely away from the Church.

"Oh!" Amy gasped, clutching a photograph to her chest and tears threatening to spill over her lashes. Sheldon immediately leant forward with his arms outstretched and Amy felt against him, showing him the picture she held onto so tightly. "I forgot this one was in there…" Amy flashed Sheldon the image and he smiled faintly, tracing over the details with one lean finger.

"It's alright sugar, Leonard knows already." Sheldon murmured softly, and Amy's tight grasp on the photograph relaxed a little and she was able to pass it across to Leonard. He flipped it over to reveal a candid shot of Sheldon standing behind Amy in their wedding outfits, their hands were clasped over her abdomen and their heads were nestled against each other.

"No one else knew, we hadn't told anyone at all. We just wanted a small intimate wedding without all of the pointing fingers."

"Where was your family, Amy? There's lots here with Sheldon's but I don't see your mother in any of these." Leonard glanced up and just caught the steely eyed glare of Sheldon that warned him that this was yet another topic he'd have been wiser to ignore.

"My family couldn't make it." Amy said simply, and took the album out of Leonard's hands to close it softly. She rose up to place it on the shelf of the bookcase behind the couch, giving it a loving pat before she walked away. "Sheldon and I went back to Harvard after the ceremony; we were together for a little over a year and then things…well, they just didn't work out and we went our separate ways."

"But you never divorced?" Leonard asked, his brow wrinkling in confusion. The couple looked as much in love at that very moment as they had in their wedding photographs despite the fact that it had been nearly ten years since they had last seen each other in person.

"No, there wasn't any need to really. I had no interest in meeting another woman, let alone pursuing a romantic relationship with her."

"And I felt the same….It was always just Sheldon for me, no one else even registered in my radar." Amy leant up to stroke Sheldon's cheek lovingly and he nuzzled his face against her palm, pressing a tender kiss against her soft skin.

"Me too." He whispered softly, and Amy smiled at his admission.

"I should get going, it's laundry night tonight."  
>"Do you still start at eight fifteen?" Sheldon asked with a smile and Amy nodded.<p>

"Pre-sorting followed by pre-soaking. I always felt it was a way of connecting with you even though we weren't together. I'd set the machines to wash and wonder whether you'd be doing the same thing at the very same time."

"And to think it's all because that was the only times the machines were ever free at that laundrette just off campus!" Sheldon let out a breathy laugh and Leonard grinned, finally slotting some of the pieces in place that made up the puzzling nature of Sheldon Cooper. Amy got up from the couch, smoothing her skirt flat with her hands and collected her shoulder bag from the floor. Sheldon rose up and walked her over to the door.

"Tomorrow evening then?" He asked hopefully as he clasped Amy's hand lightly within his own. She gave his hand a little squeeze and nodded.

"Tomorrow." She confirmed and leant forward, he met her halfway and their lips connected in a soft caress. Pulling away, Sheldon brought his finger up to capture the single tear that fell from Amy's sparkling eyes and Amy gave him a tremulous smile as she pulled her hand free and hurried away. Sheldon watched her disappear around the corner of the stairwell and then stepped inside his apartment, leaning his forehead against the closed door.

"Here…" Sheldon opened his eyes to see Leonard pressing a mug of tea against his hand. "You look like you could use it."

"Right now, I think I could use something with a little more punch; but tea will have to suffice." Sheldon accepted the mug and sipped at the beverage. He walked over to the couch and sank into his usual spot to stare sightlessly across the living room.

"Look, I don't want to pry into your personal life…" Leonard began, and Sheldon looked up with a brief smile.

"But you will anyway." Sheldon remarked drily, and then placed his mug down carefully on a coaster. "It's alright Leonard…ask away."

"What happened between the two of you? You obviously loved each other very much and there was the baby…" Leonard caught the pained look in his friend's eye and knew immediately what had caused the split. "Oh buddy…no."

"Amy was nearly six months pregnant and there was an accident…I was driving her back from the movies and the car in front of us suddenly skidded to a halt right in front of us. I hadn't been driving very long and wasn't experienced enough to swerve out of the way in time."

"You were driving?" Leonard asked with some surprise, Sheldon had always made it very clear that he was far too advanced to be bothered with something as trivial as operating a moving vehicle.

"Yes…our car skidded as the brakes locked and we ploughed into a bank. Amy seemed fine at first, a little shaken up but okay… a few days after we were released from hospital she went into premature labour and lost the baby. I haven't been able to get behind the wheel of a moving car since. Amy went into a deep depression after we lost our little girl and nothing I did or said seemed to make the slightest difference. Her mother came out from California and blamed me of course…"

"It was an accident, Sheldon! There probably wasn't anything that even the most experienced of drivers would have been able to avoid." Leonard protested and Sheldon shook his head.

"I know that now of course, but you have to realise that we were barely out of our teens and just gone through a traumatic experience…I was struggling with giving my last few lectures, looking after my sick wife and dealing with my own injuries and Amy was slipping further and further away from me. When Amy's mother suggested that maybe Amy go back with her for a few weeks to recover, it seemed like the ideal situation. Two weeks turned into a month, then two and finally I got a letter saying that she had transferred over to a university out here; the memories in Cambridge were just too painful for her to return. We kept in touch for a while and once I had finished at Harvard I followed her out here."

"Is that why you took the job at Cal-Tech instead of accepting any of those other offers? You mentioned that you could have taken a position at Rice back home…so instead you took the job at Cal-Tech thinking that Amy would still be here."

"Only she wasn't…Cal-Tech had no trace of her and her mother's house had been recently sold. I searched for nearly a year before I came to the conclusion that Amy just didn't want to be found."

"And yet you stayed…" Leonard stated softly and Sheldon gave a low chuckle.

"I stayed…ever hoping that one day I would just run into her again and it would be like we had never been apart." Sheldon sighed heavily, picking up his mug again to drain the contents. "Amy said earlier that she had taken a year's sabbatical and that her mother took her abroad to recover. They travelled around Europe for a while before settling in Glendale. All the time I was searching I was looking for Amy Farrah Fowler, but Amy registered at the university under her married name…Amelia Cooper. All this time and she was just a few miles away…" Sheldon set his empty mug down and rose to his feet, checking his wallet was in his pocket.

"Where are you off to now?"

"I plan on getting completely drunk, and you're driving."


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey sweetie!" Penny waved at Leonard from behind the bar, and then grinned widely as she saw Sheldon walk in behind him. "I see you brought a friend with you."

"Actually, I'm here with him…Get him whatever he wants and it's on me." Leonard jerked his thumb over at his roommate who was carefully wiping the seat of the stool with a wet wipe pulled from his pocket.

"Okay…" Penny drawled slowly and made her way over to where Sheldon was now perched on the very edge of the stool. "What can I get for you, Tex? Virgin Cuba Libre or perhaps a Shirley Temple?"

"Long Island Iced Tea please barkeep." Sheldon stated quietly, his fingers flipping a coaster over and over. Penny glanced over at Leonard and he gave her a slight nod, she pulled a tall glass over and filled it halfway with ice, before adding the liquor mix and topping it off with a squirt of cola. She slapped a napkin down on the counter and placed Sheldon's drink on it, sliding a straw among the ice cubes. "Thanks…" Sheldon mumbled as his hand closed around the glass, his fingers trailing up to make patterns in the condensation that formed around the outside.

"That bad, huh?" Penny asked Leonard as she slid a soft drink in front of him and he sipped slowly.

"Sheldon and Amy? Yeah, that must have been hell on earth; and it sure explains a lot about him."

"How do you mean? What happened between the two of them?" Penny whispered as she leant closer to Leonard, sneaking a peak over at where Sheldon was sucking down his drink. Leonard checked to see whether Sheldon was paying any attention and slid a lone photograph over the counter, keeping it face down so that Penny couldn't see the image just yet.

"Sheldon did meet Amy when they were at Harvard…but they were a little bit more than just friends."

"And?" Penny asked as she tried to prise up the edge of the photograph; Leonard relaxed his grip and let Penny flip over the image. "Aww, it's Moonpie dancing with his Meemaw…ooh, he looks kinds cute all suited up, must have been a special occasion."

"You could say that…look closer." Leonard tapped the corner of the photograph and Penny squinted a little as she leant in closer. "See that? Right there…"

"The little table?" Penny glanced up at Leonard and he nodded. "There's presents stacked up and that's maybe the edge of a cake?"

"Yes…?" Leonard drew out the word and glanced over to see Sheldon reaching the bottom of his glass. He turned slightly to the side and tapped the photo again. "And Sheldon's wearing a fancy suit because…?"

"Holy crap on a cracker! They got married?" Penny squealed and then clapped her hand over her mouth when she realised that her excited tones had Sheldon raising his head to glance over at them. "This is a real picture right? Not one of those photo shop thingies that Howard cooked up as some sort of weird joke?" Penny lowered her voice and leant over the bar.

"It is a real picture and you definitely shouldn't ever refer to it as a joke in Sheldon's presence." Leonard's face was completely serious as he warned Penny of the potential consequences. "You'd most likely look at making his mortal enemy list with no chance of ever getting off it if you so much as thought about it, never mind saying out loud."

"Wow…little Shelly actually got married." Penny shook her head in amazement, as she handed the photo back to Leonard who slipped it into his pocket. "I wonder how long they were married for?"

"That's the thing, Penny…they still are." Leonard let his words sink in a little before continuing, "Sheldon said that he's never been interested in anyone else remotely so why would he bother getting a divorce? Plus, there was the little inconvenient fact that he didn't know where she was…"

"Wait…! Sheldon didn't remember where he put his own wife? That's a classic!" Penny smirked over at Leonard, and when he didn't smile in return Penny knew there was something more to the tale.

"Unfortunately there is nothing remotely funny about the whole thing, Penny. Something terrible happened and Amy ran away to recover, the whole thing changed Sheldon into the man he is today and he's been trying to find her ever since."

"How terrible?" Penny asked, her eyes full of worry for their friend. Leonard just glanced over at Sheldon's woebegone face and shook his head.

"It's not my tale to tell, Penny."

"Leonard? Where's Leonard? Oh…there you are." Sheldon looked up from his empty glass and slid over onto the vacant stool next to his roommate. He tapped his empty glass and Penny recognised it as the universal symbol for a refill.

"How're you doing, buddy?" Leonard asked, and Penny could hear the sorrow lacing his tone as he glanced over at his roommate. Sheldon sighed heavily as he slumped on the bar stool.

"I'll be fine once I get another one of these inside me."

"Sheldon, alcohol isn't always the best solution you know." Penny said as she slid the refill in front of her friend.

"I come from Texas, a little drink like this isn't likely to knock me back." Sheldon sucked down half of his drink in one go and then pushed it away. "It doesn't taste as good as I remembered…Oh God, what am I even doing?" Sheldon leant his forehead against the counter and Leonard rubbed his back.

"What do you want, buddy? Do you want me to take you home or maybe we could order some bar food here?"

"I don't know…" Sheldon's face was tortured as he tugged at his hair. "It's as though my world has been wrenched apart again and I don't know whether I'm strong enough to survive it if she leaves me again." Sheldon's voice dropped down until it was a mere whisper and Leonard felt his own heart cracking a little at the thought of his friend experiencing that much pain.

"Here, sweetie…let's get you over to a table where you can sit more comfortably." Penny came around the bar, and Leonard saw that she had taken off her apron. "Marty's covering the rest of my shift…Sheldon's more important right now."

"Wanna see a picture of her, Leonard?" Sheldon asked, a little drowsy from the alcohol intake and Leonard nodded, thinking Sheldon was going to pull a picture of Amy out of his wallet. Instead, Sheldon pulled out a little laminated envelope and smiled tenderly at the tiny image, before handing it over to Leonard.

"That's my little pumpkin, Emily Rose…."

"Oh Sheldon…" Penny peered over Leonard's shoulder and her eyes filled with tears as she saw the sonogram image of the tiny baby; knowing instantly what the tragedy was that pulled Sheldon and his wife apart. "Sweetie…"

"You can't tell Amy that I have that, Leonard…" Sheldon said, taking the picture back and storing it safely behind his secret agent card in his wallet. "After the accident she got rid of everything that would remind her; she forgot that I had one in my wallet."

"Okay, I won't tell." Leonard promised and Penny nodded in agreement.

"I promise…how did you leave things with Amy tonight? Are you going to see each other again?"

"Tomorrow afternoon, we're meeting up to discuss where we go next." Sheldon was rubbing his finger and Leonard finally realised that the nervous habit that he'd seen over the years was probably from where Sheldon used to rub his thumb over his wedding ring; something he'd seen his own father do on many an occasion.

"You can always put it back on, you know?" Leonard suggested quietly, nodding at his friend's left hand, and Sheldon quickly tucked his hand under the table, flushing a little under the scrutiny. "You do that a lot, especially when you're nervous."

"Habit, I guess…I can't put it back on, not until she's ready; if she's ever ready. I want her back, Leonard. She's like the other half of my soul and I feel empty without her beside me. What can I do?" Sheldon raised his pale, tear streaked face up at Leonard and it was Penny that leant forward to take his hand.

"You're going to walk over to that bathroom and wash your face, and then Leonard's going to drive you home. We're going to share a nice pot of tea and you can tell us all about this woman that made my Shelly cry. Go on, wash up and we'll take you home." Penny nudged Sheldon in the direction of the men's room and she murmured to Leonard that she would be right back.

"I just need to grab my stuff from my locker, can you give me a ride back in the morning to fetch my car?"

"Sure." Leonard nodded and Penny kissed his cheek before ducking into the small room behind the bar to fetch her purse and jacket. When she returned, Sheldon was waiting quietly at the table and he looked up as Penny approached.

"Leonard's just paying the bar tab." He explained briefly and rose to his feet, looking a little uncertain. Penny wrapped her hands around his forearm and tugged him over to the exit.

"Let's get some fresh air, we can wait for Leonard outside." She didn't wait for him to argue, just kept tugging on his arm until he followed her out into the warm night. "It's nearly summer…you can almost smell it coming." Penny turned her head up to the moon and breathed in deeply.

"You're one crazy lady…" Sheldon shook his head at her antics and sat down on the low wall outside the restaurant. "I hate the summer."

"I know, sweetie…Is that when it happened?"

"Please, don't call me that; not tonight…Amy used to call me sweetheart and every time you call me 'sweetie' it reminds me of her." Sheldon glanced over at Penny and she saw the pleading look in his eye and nodded. His lip rose in a slight quirk of thanks and he continued. "Just before…it was summer when Amy left me, if I close my eyes I can still smell the scent of warm popcorn and freshly mown grass. The accident was at the end of May, I was released a few weeks later and we lost Emily on June twentieth…By the third week of July, Amy was gone."

"What were you in hospital for? I know you said it was a car accident, but you never said where you were injured."

"I broke my ankle when it got jammed under the foot well. They had to cut me out of the car where the door buckled around me." Sheldon shoved up the sleeve of his t-shirt and revealed what he kept hidden from view; a faded pattern of scar tissue crisscrossed around his triceps and disappeared up his sleeve. "I took most of the impact on my side of the car, where I tried to steer away from the bank; the glass shattered and this was the result. It goes up around my shoulder and half way down my back." He said in a matter of fact manner. "That's why I prefer to wear long sleeves, it stops all of the questions."

"You ready, buddy?" Leonard asked as he jogged over to join them at the wall. Sheldon nodded silently and followed him back to the car, Penny clinging to his hand the whole time. They drove back to the apartment in almost complete silence and walked up the stairs to the fourth floor, where Sheldon came to an abrupt halt at the top. His mouth running dry at the sight that awaited on the landing.


	5. Chapter 5

"What?" Penny stood on tiptoes as she attempted to see over Sheldon's shoulder and Leonard peered around his side, tugging Penny back down a few steps until they were out of sight.

"Amy? Oh, darlin'…It's alright, I'm here…" Sheldon hurried over to where Amy was curled up sobbing against his apartment door. He tugged her onto his lap and Amy immediately wrapped her arms around his waist to hold on tightly to the hems of his t-shirts. Sheldon glanced over his shoulder to see Leonard peering his head around the corner of the stairwell and jerked his head toward the door. "Sshh…I'm not going anywhere." Sheldon crooned to his wife as she murmured something incoherently into his neck, frightened that he was going to let her go.

"Buddy…here, let me get the door for you." Leonard said as he jogged up the few remaining steps and unlocked the apartment door. "Need a hand?" He asked, gesturing to Amy and Sheldon shook his head as he scooped Amy higher into his arms and got to his feet with barely any effort. He carried Amy into the living room, and hesitated before continuing down the hallway into his bedroom; setting her carefully down onto his bed and curling his lean frame around her smaller body; offering the shelter of his arms.

Leonard stepped back out of the apartment, closing the door quietly behind him. He glanced over to see Penny's sombre expression. She simply held out her hand and led him inside her own apartment. "You can stay with me tonight, Leonard. I think they need some time to themselves."

"Thanks, Penny." Leonard gave her hand a little squeeze and she sat down on her aqua couch propping her feet on the coffee table. As soon as Leonard dropped down beside her, she took his hand again and nestled her head against his shoulder.

"Poor Sheldon." She sighed and felt Leonard nod in agreement. They sat there in comfortable silence, both wondering what had Amy crying outside of Sheldon's apartment.

"Feel like talking yet, sugar?" Sheldon murmured against Amy's soft hair once her tears had slowed to the occasional hiccup. She blew her nose with a soggy tissue crumpled in her hand and turned around in Sheldon's arms so that she was facing him.

"I didn't want to leave you this afternoon…"

"Aw, darlin'…" Sheldon raised his hand to cup Amy's tear stained cheek and she closed her eyes at the tenderness of his touch.

"I had to force myself to walk down those stairs and drive back to my apartment…I just kept thinking to myself; why doesn't he hate me?"

"Amy! I could never hate you!" Sheldon exclaimed, pulling her closer to him and resting his head on her hair. "Never, never…I've loved you ever since the day you corrected my wording in that first lecture and I never stopped; not even when I thought I would never see you again." Sheldon leant back slightly so that he could look into her eyes. "I love you."

"I hurt you so badly, how could you possibly still love me after everything that I've done?" Amy cried out, and Sheldon shook her arms slightly as he tried to make her understand the depths of his feelings.

"You were hurting too, and I should have never let you go off with your mother without me. I was too focused on my own hurt to realise just how low you had gotten. It should be me at your feet asking for your forgiveness, rather than you apologising to me."

"I should never have left you and for that I am truly sorry…" Amy tugged at his hair to get Sheldon to lower his head, and when he obliged she kissed his cheek gently. "I'm sorry." Another kiss to his forehead. "I'm sorry." The last kiss was a lingering brush against his mouth that left his lips tingling and wanting more. When Amy pulled away Sheldon tucked her head under his chin and she snuggled up against him as their arms found their old resting places; hers under his arms and his crossed loosely in the small of her back.

"How long did it take your arm to heal completely?" Amy murmured as her fingers traced lightly over the slightly raised scar tissue she could feel through the thin layers of his shirts.

"A few months, there wasn't any nerve damage luckily so it was just a case of having a bit of therapy to get the muscles working again and stretching the skin."

"My poor Stringbean…" Amy pressed a light kiss to his shoulder and Sheldon twitched a little at her caress. "Ooh…still ticklish there I see." Amy chuckled lightly and Sheldon frowned at her. Her smile immediately straightened out as she looked a little contrite and swiped a cross over her heart.

"What about you? How long before you began to feel better?" Sheldon shifted slightly on the bed, rolling onto his back and bringing Amy down to rest against his side. He yawned slightly, feeling the effects of the one and a half Long Islands' as Amy brought one of her legs up to rest across his and his hand slipped down to pat her thigh.

"I guess it was about a year before I stopped crying every time I saw someone with a baby, and nearly two when I didn't feel guilty for smiling…I wish I hadn't ripped up all of her pictures though; that's one of my biggest regrets, I don't have anything left to remind me of our pumpkin."

"I didn't want to say anything before…but I kept a few things back." Sheldon admitted softly and Amy looked up at him in shocked relief. "A picture from one of the last sonograms, a little teddy bear and the blanket that we were going to bring her home in…Mama's got a shawl that she and Meemaw crocheted and Missy made a cute little pair of booties, I didn't get rid of anything."

"Can…Can I see them?" Amy asked tearfully and Sheldon nodded. He lifted her leg off his lap and scooted to the edge of the bed, bringing up a worn leather satchel from under the bed. He placed it carefully on the mattress and Amy smiled as she recognised it as the one she had bought him as a wedding present. Sheldon lifted his hip to remove his wallet from his back pocket and he took out the small laminated pouch containing the last remaining image of his precious little girl. He set it down on top of the satchel and waited for Amy to compose herself.

Amy shifted the pouch to one side and undid the fastenings of the satchel first, slowly folding back the top and pulling out the soft, white bear from inside. "He's just as lovely as the day we bought him." She said quietly as she ran her fingers over his towelling material body. "We got him in that little hospital gift shop after collecting the pictures from that first scan."

"You were so sure we were having a boy, and desperately wanted that horrible blue one." Sheldon said as he took the bear and smiled fondly at the sewn on features. "I was convinced it was a girl and made you buy this one instead."

"And you were right…as usual." Amy said with a grin, and caught her breath as she pulled the cushiony, patchwork blanket out of the satchel. "It's still smells so fresh!" She brought it to her nose and breathed in deeply, closing her eyes as she remembered sitting up at night piecing the quilt together from scraps of material while waiting for Sheldon to get back from one of his tutoring classes.

"I throw it in the wash every once in a while…" Sheldon admitted, "Sometimes I can't sleep and I put it under my pillow, it reminds me of you."

"I've got one of your shirts that I sleep in occasionally; that pale blue one that you didn't like the collar on?"

"I wondered what happened to that one! Clothes thief…" Sheldon tapped the tip of her nose and Amy laughed as she carefully replaced the quilt and teddy back in the satchel and fastened the straps. Her hands trembled as she reached for the last item and she gulped hard, Sheldon's lean hand covered her own and he murmured reassurances into her ear as they pulled the small picture out of the pouch together.

"Oh, my baby…" Amy whispered as her fingers traced every detail on the black and white image. "She was perfect, wasn't she Sheldon?"

"In every detail." He confirmed, blinking back tears as he watched Amy croon softly to the picture.

"How could I have forgotten that tiny button nose? Or that little dimple in her chin? Oh, Shelly…" Amy pressed the picture to her heart and turned her head into Sheldon's chest as she started crying softly. He ran his hands soothingly up and down her back and murmured soft words of encouragement in her ear.

"It's alright, darlin'…let it all out, I'm here…I'm here."

"Our precious baby…she didn't get to grow up and start school, we didn't get to cry over her first nativity play; she'll never lose her first tooth and ask about the tooth fairy or Santa…so many things that we never got to experience with her… I miss her, Sheldon; I want her back." Amy cried harder against Sheldon's chest and he felt her hot tears soaking into his shirt.

"I know, Amy; I miss her every darn day and it's like an ache in my heart that won't ever completely go away…that's when I get out her things and remember the good days; how terrified we were the day we found out, the squabble we had over choosing the paint for the nursery. The first time we felt her kick and you swore that she was going to bust your bladder. The laughter, the joy and the tears…they all add up to Emily Rose, and I keep her here." Sheldon tapped his forehead and Amy managed a watery smile.

"I've never envied you for that memory of yours…but I really do now." Sheldon looked down at the picture still clasped gently in Amy's hand and placed his own hand over the top.

"Then you keep it…I've got her in my memory and in my heart; I don't need the picture to remember our little girl." Amy's eyes brightened up a little at his suggestion and she threw her free arm around his waist, snuggling back under his chin.

"Thank you, Sheldon…I'll keep her safe, I promise."

"I know you will." Sheldon dropped a kiss to Amy's forehead and she hummed under her breath. "I've missed that sound." Amy's brow wrinkled in confusion as she leant back a little in his arms and Sheldon placed another soft kiss, this time on her mouth and she gave another little hoot of approval. "That little hooting thing you do whenever I kiss you." Amy flushed, having forgotten that her feelings were so easily betrayed and Sheldon grinned as he lowered his head to rub their noses together. "I'm hungry, feel like getting something to eat?"

"I could eat…" Amy said as her stomach suddenly let out a gurgle. "Yep, definitely."

"What do you fancy? Italian, Chinese, Thai?" Sheldon kissed her nose again, before rolling off the bed to get to his feet. He held out a hand and Amy let herself be pulled alongside him as he tugged her out of his bedroom and down the hallway.

"Got any bread?" Amy asked, cuddling into his side as if she couldn't bear to be separated from him even for a moment and Sheldon smiled down at her as he remembered one of their comfort foods from their marriage.

"Cheese on toast?"

"Perfect." Amy nodded and Sheldon set her on a stool at the counter as he started assembling the ingredients. "That was my job." She said, holding out her hand for the cheese and the knife. "You did the bread and I, the cheese."

"Bossy boots." Sheldon dropped a brief kiss against her lips as he slid the cutting board closer to Amy and then he turned to the bread bin. "Hmm…I thought I had more than that. I bet Penny's been helping herself to breakfast again."

"Penny?" Amy heard the slightly jealous note in her voice and winced, hoping that Sheldon hadn't caught it. Unfortunately he had, and looked over with a tender expression.

"Not my type…she's a blonde would-be actress that lives across the hall; she and Leonard dated for a while, he's still got a bit of a thing for her but she's commitment shy and they're currently in that friend zone. Unfortunately, she still thinks it is okay to come over and poach our groceries whenever she feels like it, and I'm going to have to issue her with another strike."

"Sorry…I don't know what came over me," Amy started to apologise and Sheldon interrupted her by placing his index finger over her lips and then leaning down to kiss her thoroughly. It was their first intimate kiss in nearly ten years and they didn't waste a moment; tongues exploring forgotten areas and relearning the other's unique taste.

"I like it when you get a little possessive…and my preference has always been for cuddly, spectacle wearing brunettes with gorgeous emerald eyes…and don't you forget it!" Sheldon panted out after he raised his head, breathing a little quickly from lack of oxygen.

"God, I'd forgotten how well you kissed!" Amy breathed out, fanning her face a little to cool off. "It reminded me of our first dinner date, who would have thought that the shy and awkward Sheldon Cooper could be such a stud between the sheets?"

"I didn't put out on our first date!" Sheldon corrected, and Amy waggled her eyebrows.

"We did get to the bedroom though…Or was that someone else that ripped the buttons off my blouse?"

"Dear Lord!" Sheldon exclaimed as he recalled exactly what date Amy was referring to. "I was a complete savage, I'm surprised you even agreed to see me again after that night."

"No, honey…you were just a normal guy that suddenly realised what his little friend was really for; and you didn't hear me complaining, did you?"

"Well, you did scream a couple of times but it was more along the lines of…"

"I think that's enough of that conversation for now." Amy swiftly interrupted, her cheeks scarlet with embarrassment, remembering all too clearly what she had said and done in the confines of Sheldon's room that night. Whilst Sheldon was correct in the fact that they hadn't gotten as far as having intercourse that night, it was only because they had been too exhausted after exploring each other's bodies all night long. They had more than made up for it the following night, and the night after that…not spending a single night apart until the day of the fateful accident.

"Aw…just as things were getting interesting." Sheldon teased and pecked her cheek. "I'm going to pop across the hall to see if Penny's got any bread. I know she did her grocery shop this morning and hopefully she bought another loaf to replace what she used her. Won't be a minute." Sheldon grabbed his keys out of the porcelain bowl and jogged across the hallway.

Knock, knock, knock "Penny." Sheldon rapped three times on her apartment door and was preparing to repeat the knock when Leonard pulled the door open, his face wreathed in concern.

"Sheldon, everything okay over there?" For once Sheldon wasn't overly concerned with being prevented from completing his ritual and smiled at his roommate.

"Everything's fine, Leonard. Amy just needed a little comfort, we had a chat and she's a little better now. Is Penny there? She stole our bread again and Amy wants cheese on toast."

"I told her to let me know when she finished something." Leonard called out to Penny over his shoulder, and she came to the door. "You ate Sheldon's bread and didn't replace it again."

"Shoot! I knew there was something I meant to bring over, hang on a sec." Penny ran over to her kitchen and started rummaging around. "Here, one loaf of bread, a carton of juice and some milk; I picked them up this morning." She handed everything over to Sheldon and he tucked them under his arm. "You okay, sweetie?"

"Great, couldn't be better." Sheldon beamed at Penny and she patted his shoulder.

"Good, Leonard's going to stay over on my couch tonight so there's no need to shove Amy out at bedtime. He's still got a few of his things over here so I'll make sure he doesn't disturb you guys."

"Thanks, I'd better get back before she starts thinking that I've moved in over here; we've already had one awkward conversation about why our female neighbour would help themselves to breakfast in our apartment."

"Sweetie…I hoped you told her that you're so not my type?"

"Rest assured Penny, I thoroughly demonstrated that you were clearly not my type." Sheldon winked over at his neighbour and it was only then she took in his dishevelled appearance; hair out of place, swollen mouth and shirts wrinkled from where they had been gripped tightly, she also saw the tear stains on his shoulder and chest and choked back any smart comment she would have made.

"Good for you, sweetie. I hope everything works out for the two of you this time."

"So do I, Penny." Sheldon said quietly as he gave them both a small smile and stepped back out of the apartment.

"Oh Leonard…I hope she doesn't let him down again." Penny sighed heavily as she watched the door close behind their friend. Leonard tugged her down to sit next to him and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"If she does, we'll be here to pick up the pieces and put him back together again."


	6. Chapter 6

Amy turned around from filling the kettle as Sheldon walked back into the apartment carrying the groceries.

"Bread, milk and juice all courtesy of the blonde breakfast thief in 4B. Did you finish the cheese?" Sheldon placed the milk and juice back in the fridge and turned around to see Amy standing directly behind him. "Whoa…I nearly knocked you off your feet."

"You did that ten years ago, and I've never been the same since. Sheldon…I want to come home…" Amy said tearfully and Sheldon's breath hitched in his throat. "I've hated being without you for all of these years…I thought you didn't want me anymore, you never replied to any of my letters and I've been so lonely."

"What letters?" Sheldon asked slowly. "I never received any letters from you. I told you this morning that I spend a long time trying to find you but I was looking under the wrong name…all you had to do was to contact Harvard or my family and they would have told you where I was in a heartbeat."

"Come and sit down, Sheldon and I'll try to explain." Amy held out her hand and Sheldon let her lead him over to the couch. When they were settled, Amy clasped his hand tightly and took a steadying breath. "This is going to be hard for me to explain so please try to remain calm and let me finish."

"Alright, I'm calm."

"When mother and I got back to California she decided that it was time to move out of the house that she shared with Daddy; I was still feeling a little blue so I agreed to help her find a new place in Glendale. I wrote to Harvard asking them to forward on our new address and mother posted it for me. A couple of weeks passed and I didn't hear anything so I wrote again, still nothing. I decided to write to your Mama to try and find out where you were but when nothing came back I thought that you had given up on me."

"Amy…darling…I didn't receive any of your letters, I swear!" Sheldon was distraught at the fact that his own family would have been cruel enough to hide the letters from him, even though he had been living with Meemaw at the time.

"I know that now, sweetheart." Amy assured him with a loving smile and then her smile faded away. "I know…because I found out that she never sent a single one of them."

"Who?"

"My mother." Amy admitted, twisting her fingers together in her lap. "She got sick about a year ago and I moved back to take care of her…heart failure…"

"I'm so sorry," Sheldon placed his hand over Amy's and let it rest on top of her fingers. She tilted her hand over so that their fingers could entwine and carried on.

"She passed away about a month ago and I started clearing out her things so that I could put the house up for sale. I found a box with all of the letters that I had written to you all neatly bundled up; she never sent them. I was so angry that I practically tore her bedroom apart looking for a note or diary, something that might explain how she could have done something like that…but there was nothing. I thought about writing to your family again, but it had been so many years and I didn't know where to begin."

"That's understandable, I guess." Sheldon said softly as he played with the ring finger on her left hand, stroking his finger over where her little diamond ring had once rested.

"What, that I was angry with my Mother? Or that I was too much of a coward to write to yours?" Amy asked as her finger rubbed against the slight callous that still remained at the base of his ring finger. Sheldon didn't reply, just let her continue to vent. "This afternoon when I left here, I got a call from the new owners. They found another box…this one had your letters inside, Mother had opened them all and read them but never told me that you had written. I don't know how she managed to slip them past me, I practically stalked the mailman every day certain that you would write."

"I still have them." Sheldon said suddenly and Amy blinked in confusion. "Our rings…you had to take yours off when your fingers started to swell up. You never put them back on afterwards, I still have them…perhaps they'll fit better now."

"Sheldon, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"I'm saying that it doesn't matter what your Mother's reasons were; you know that she loved you and we found each other again despite all of the odds."

"I love you, Sheldon Lee Cooper."

"And I love you Amelia Farrah Cooper." Sheldon nuzzled his cheek over Amy's hair and breathed in her familiar scent, taking it deep into his lungs. "I'm not saying that we should pretend the last ten years never happened and jump straight back into married life…but what if we were to take things slowly? Have that grand romance that we never had the first time around?"

"I would say…that sounds absolutely perfect; with one slight amendment."

"Just the one?" Sheldon leant back and smiled down at Amy, knowing that she always had to tinker with his schemes.

"Okay, maybe two." She grinned and added a second finger to her first.

"Go on…"

"One…I want us to put our rings back on and agree never to take them off again." Amy looked into Sheldon's eyes and saw them begin to glow with feeling and he nodded.

"Agreed…my finger's felt awfully bare without it being there. What's your second request?"  
>"We agree to put sex on the back burner, but I still want to be able to go to sleep in your arms and see your face over the funny pages every morning as we eat breakfast."<p>

"Did I happen to mention how much I adore the way you tinker with my plans until they in no way resemble my own?" Sheldon asked as he smiled softly at his adorable wife.

"You approve?"

"Wholeheartedly." And to seal the deal, Sheldon leant over to capture Amy's mouth in a tender, yet perfectly chaste kiss. "Wait here." He whispered as soon as he lifted his head and Amy nodded, not intending on moving from that very spot. Sheldon walked around the back of the couch to pull down a vivid green ceramic figurine from the bookcase.

"That doesn't look very much like the Green Lantern from your comic books." Amy remarked as he sat down back in his spot and started unscrewing the base of the figure.

"Unfortunately it's based on the dismal movie version rather than the comic…fortunately for us, it was such a disaster that no one would even think twice about stealing it; which is why I store my valuables inside his buttocks." Sheldon started pulling out rolls upon rolls of banknotes and piling them on Amy's lap, she started laughing as she mentally calculated just how much 'loose change' Sheldon was still squirreling away in the oddest of places.

"Sweetheart, there's at least five thousand dollars stuffed in his buttocks, don't you think it would be safer in a bank?"

"Nah…we were robbed a few years back; they stripped the place of electronics but left this little guy behind." Sheldon patted the figurine affectionately as his fingers rooted around for the most valuable of all of his possession. "Aha, there you are!" He pulled the object free and revealed it to be a small velvet bag. Undoing the drawstring, he tipped the contents into Amy's palm…her sparkling diamond solitaire and two matching wedding bands. Shoving the money carelessly back inside the figure, Sheldon screwed the base back in position and set it on the coffee table. Turning to face Amy, he picked up her rings and slid them gently over her knuckle.

"With this ring, I thee wed…" He murmured softly as he pressed a kiss over the bands that still fit her perfectly, just like they had done on their wedding day so long ago. Amy smiled tremulously as she picked up Sheldon's hand and slid his band on his finger.

"With this ring, I thee wed…" Amy repeated solemnly and ran her thumb over the soft gold of the band. She let out a little squeak of surprise as Sheldon scooped her up into his arms and started toward the hallway, he started humming the wedding march under his breath as he marched along.

"I thought we were taking things slow?"

"We are…but we've got ten long years of spooning to make up for; and I've missed having your cold feet against my shins."

"I didn't bring anything to wear…I must admit I didn't think things through properly when I came rushing over here." Amy rested her head against Sheldon's shoulder as he nudged his way through his bedroom door.

"We've shared pyjamas before…and I can find you a spare shirt to wear back to your place tomorrow. Tonight, can we just cuddle up in bed and not talk about the details?" Sheldon pulled out his Saturday night pyjamas from his dresser along with a clean undershirt. He hesitated a little, and then put it back, selecting a long sleeve version instead.

"Sweetheart, it's okay…I've seen them before." Amy's hands gently tugged the shirt out of his hands and replaced it back in the drawer. She pulled out a V-neck undershirt and pressed it to his chest. "Go on and get changed; I'm going to slip into the bathroom to freshen up. Can I borrow a pair of your boxers to wear under your shirt?"  
>"I don't wear them anymore; I changed over to briefs a few years ago…Um, there might be a pair in the closet that Leonard got me as a gag gift for my birthday." Sheldon rummaged on the shelf in his built in closet and emerged with a sealed package of comic book boxers. "Here, feel free." Amy grinned at the sight of the superhero emblazoned underwear and scooped up the pyjama top from where Sheldon had placed it on the bed.<p>

"I've never been in bed with a superhero before." She quipped and Sheldon flicked his shirt at her as she ran giggling into the bathroom.

Coming back into the bedroom, Amy saw that Sheldon had plumped the pillows up invitingly and managed to source a second for her, remembering her preferences. He was sitting on the edge of the bed removing his wristwatch and looked up as Amy hovered in the doorway.

"You still like the left side, don't you?" He asked and Amy nodded as she made her way over to that side of the bed, sliding under the covers and smoothing them flat as she lay back against the pillows. She felt the mattress dip under Sheldon's weight and turned her head to see him mirroring her position.

"Is it strange that I feel like a virgin bride on her wedding night?" Amy asked suddenly, stretching out her hand to clutch at Sheldon's nervously. He gave a little chuckle as he nestled a little closer, slipping off Amy's glasses with his free hand and setting on his bedside table. He tugged at Amy's hand until she was resting against his shoulder.

"Not strange at all…if you think about it; we've been living separate lives for far longer than we were actually together for, so I suppose that it's only natural for us to feel a little nervous until we get used to each other again."

"Funny, I'm not nervous anymore." Amy said, nuzzling her head under her chin and bringing her hand up to rest against springy curls of his chest hair peeking above the neck of his undershirt.

"Me neither." Sheldon replied with a tired yawn, his hand slipping down to rest on the curve of her hip. "Just gonna take a little nap…" He murmured sleepily, pressing a kiss to Amy's forehead. "Love you."

"You too…" Amy murmured against his neck, one hand curled under Sheldon's shoulder and the other slipping down to hook around the elastic banding of his pyjama pants.

"Any closer and you'll be under my skin." Sheldon murmured and Amy just wriggled closer, hooking her leg over his hip and burrowing her head deeper.

"You know you love it really."

"I do…I really do." Sheldon's hand gently caressed her hip and slipped under her pyjama top until he was touching bare skin; Amy's hand had done the same, tugging his shirt free of his waistband so that her hand was touching the bare skin of his back. Murmuring in contentment the couple snuggled up closer and drifted off to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Sheldon smiled as he woke to feel the warm and familiar sensation of his wife sprawled across his body. Her pyjama top had worked open during the night and it was now flapping loosely around her shoulders as she was draped over his chest like a living blanket. Sheldon's hands were cupping her curvy buttocks and Amy's hands were tucked under his shirt in the small of his back. Sheldon gave her rear a little squeeze and Amy wrinkled up her nose at the disturbance. Sheldon slipped his hand around to her tummy and gave her a light tickle.

"Hm..mum..num…" Amy murmured as she shifted away from his wandering hand and nearly kneed him in the groin as she curled her legs up under her.

"Ammmmyyy…wake up…" Sheldon blew gently in her ear and Amy reached up to bat what she thought was an annoying insect away, colliding with Sheldon's chin instead. "Ouch!" He rubbed at the mark, and a devilish glint appeared in his eye. His finger trailed lightly around her naval and then ran up her sides, bumping over her ribs as he shifted the open sides of her pyjama top apart.

"Aaammmyyy…" He called softly and lowered his head to peck lightly at her lips, feeling her sweet breath flow into his mouth as she continued to sleep. Her lips curved into a soft smile and her face relaxed as Sheldon continued to place light kisses against her lips as he tried to wake her.

"Mmm…Sheldon….missed you…" Amy smiled again in her sleep and Sheldon realised that she was dreaming about him. He smirked a little as he wondered what dream him might be up to and got his answer when Amy's legs parted slightly and she let out a soft moan. "Oh…Sheldon…" Amy started breathing a little deeper and her breasts rubbed against his chest as her body arched against him. He wondered whether he should wake her before things got a little crazy, but thought and everything else flew out of his head when her hand suddenly slipped around to his front and disappeared inside his pants.

"Oh…Lord!" Sheldon gasped out and Amy's mouth was suddenly on his as she thrust her tongue in his mouth and tangled with his own. Everything became like a blur after that, pants and underwear were shoved out of the way and tangled in the twisted sheets as they rolled over on the mattress feverishly reconnecting. Amy's eyes opened to stare directly into Sheldon's as they moved together, both reaching completion at the same time.

"I thought sex was off the table?" Amy asked quietly as she rested her head on Sheldon's panting chest.

"So did I, until you attacked me in your sleep." Sheldon raised Amy's chin up so that he could meet her gaze. "I don't regret it, do you?"

"Never." She vowed, and then blushed as she started fidgeting nervously. "Um, we didn't use err…anything and I'm not on any form of birth control."

"Is that a problem for you? Because we can go to the pharmacy on the corner and get something for you to take." Sheldon placed his hand over hers to still their movements and Amy gave a slight shake of her head, her other hand already coming around to rest against her abdomen.

"No, I don't want to take anything." She whispered and Sheldon's hand moved down to curve lightly around hers as he smiled against her bare shoulder.

"Good…then we won't." He pressed a kiss against her warm skin and then moved away, flipping back the covers. "I'm going to take a shower, feel free to help yourself to anything that you can find."

"Anything?" Amy whispered saucily as she walked her fingers over the mattress to tickle the curve of Sheldon's back and he grinned over his shoulder.

"Anything to wear, you naughty imp!" Sheldon rose from the bed and walked over to the bedroom door, "Want me to leave it running for you?"

"Sure, don't use up all of the hot water!"

"Hah! Seven minutes is all I need and then it's all yours." Sheldon grabbed a fresh towel from the rack just inside his room and slung it over his shoulder. "See you in a few."

They were sitting across from each other at the breakfast counter when Leonard let himself back in the apartment an hour later and gave them a wave.

"Just going to grab my uniform."

"Uniform?" Amy asked around a mouthful of toast and Sheldon shook his head as he wiped a dab of peanut butter from her bottom lip with his finger.

"Mucky pup." Amy wrinkled her nose up at him and he was just about to reply when there was a knock at the door and then it opened. Howard and Raj stumbled to a halt in the middle of the living room at the sight of Amy sitting across from Sheldon wearing one of his superhero t-shirts over a pair of sweatpants. Sheldon's finger was still hovering near her lip and he pulled it back to wipe it clean on a napkin.

"Dude…you're not even dressed yet! The battle starts in fifteen minutes!" Raj waved his hand at Sheldon's casual dress of twin t-shirts over tan cargo pants and Leonard came back into the room fully kitted out in his camouflage gear with his goggles hanging off one wrist.

"Sheldon's not coming along today; I'm taking his spot as commander and Penny's moving up the ranks. She's just getting dressed and we can pick her up on the way."

"But why?" Raj whined, "You're so vague in your commands and we never win when you lead us; I want Sheldon."

"It's so lovely to hear you praise my authority, Rajesh, but why is it you never seem to appreciate me in the field of battle?" Sheldon raised his brow at the other man, who had the grace to look a little abashed. "I'm sorry, but I have something far more important to do today and it doesn't involve having little balls of paint smeared over my body."

"You guys are going paintballing?" Amy chuckled and leant her head against her palm. "I thought you said you'd never do it again after I whipped your butt in that girl's vs boy's game?"

"I got better at it after I started playing every week. I happen to be the commander of that bunch of ragamuffins over there and we've managed to beat the Geology department quite a few times over the past few months. It's Humanities today so make sure that you don't take them out too quickly otherwise they'll start to cry like babies again." He addressed the last remark to Leonard who gave him a mock salute.

"Yessir, Major Cooper…debriefing here at 1300?" Amy chuckled again at the title and Sheldon leant over to murmur something in her ear. She checked her watch and nodded.

"I think so, sure one o'clock should give us plenty of time." Sheldon nodded over at Leonard, who started herding the guys out of the door.

"You go over and check whether Penny's ready to go, I just have a couple of things that I need to check out with Sheldon before we head off."

"Meet you at the car?" Howard suggested, and Leonard nodded practically shoving the two men over to the hallway. He closed the door behind them and quickly walked over to Sheldon, pulling the taller man into a hug.

"I don't think the others spotted it, but I noticed as soon as I walked in. I'm very happy for you buddy, sad that I'm gonna have to find a new place to live but so pleased it's working out for the two of you."

"What? Oh, the rings…yes we worked some things out last night and decided that we wanted to try and make a go of things." Sheldon looked down at his wedding ring and rubbed it with his thumb. "I'd almost forgotten I had it on…strange how I got used to it again so quickly."

"Leonard…there's no need for you to move out; I'm sure the three of us can live quite harmoniously here, it's a big enough apartment." Amy walked over to slip her arm around Sheldon's waist and lean against his side. "We're trying to take things slowly so you won't be kept awake by any amorous activities if that's what's worrying you."

"I guess I should have really run it past you first, after all you are my roommate after all." Sheldon began to look nervous and Leonard gave him a reassuring smile.

"Sheldon, I'm totally on board with the two of you reconnecting after all of these years. I'm a little sad that I'm going to be the third wheel around here, I just didn't want things to get awkward between us."

"Try to think of us as The Three Musketeer's; one for all and all for one… The two of you have probably developed a routine after so many years of living together, I'll be the one adjusting to that." Amy said as she glanced between the two men and saw them both relax.

"Actually, we live pretty much by the same routine as you and I did; specific bathroom schedule, breakfast cereals ordered by fibre content on a rotational basis and everything clearly labelled in the kitchen so that…"  
>"If someone else uses it they know exactly where to put it back." Leonard and Amy chorused together, Leonard's by rote as he had heard the same thing over and over every time he misplaced something and Amy's a little chirpier as it was her original rule to begin with.<p>

"Does he still insist that the washing up is done as you go along?" Amy asked Leonard and when he nodded, she jerked her thumb toward her chest. "What about Chinese takeout once a week?

"It's take out every night as far as Sheldon's concerned; Thai, Pizza, Chinese, Indian…you name it, we order it."

"Sheldon!" Amy slapped him lightly on the arm. "What about all of those lessons we took together? You used to love cooking up a huge Sunday roast with all the trimmings."

"It wasn't the same without you…I hardly cook at all now, unless it's one of our fruit loaves or sourdough bread; and that's only when I'm feeling a little blue."

"Hmpfh…that changes today, buster!" Amy waved her finger at Sheldon and he stood smiling at her. "We're going to the market and then we're coming back here to cook a proper dinner. Take outs will revert to special occasions and a once a week treat; so you'd better decide between the pair of you what night you want it on."

"I need to go before the guys and Penny start looking for me." Leonard checked his watch and started moving toward the door. "I'll see you both back here at one o'clock."

"Leonard, could you do me a favour and not bring the guys back with you today? I would rather it was just you and Penny that knows about our situation until we settle in a little." Sheldon followed Leonard to the door and leant in close to murmur his request in his friend's ear. Leonard nodded understandingly and raised his hand in a casual wave of goodbye as Amy stepped into view. Sheldon went to close the apartment door but Amy stopped him with a gentle hand on his arm.

"We need to get a move on if we need to be back in time to cook that dinner."

"Oh, okay. Just let me grab my jacket and wallet and we can head out." Sheldon left the door open as he picked his jacket off the back of his desk chair and checked his wallet was in his pocket. "I'm ready, let's get you moved in."

Sheldon wandered around Amy's living room as she threw a few essentials into a bag in her bedroom. He picked up a little monkey ornament from the bookcase and was admiring it in his hand when Amy walked back into the living room carrying a small overnight bag in one hand and a garment bag over her shoulder.

"You don't seem to have packed very many things, Amy… I've already said that there is plenty of room in my closet for your clothes and you can have two full drawers in the dresser." Sheldon set the ornament back in its original place and crossed over to take the bags from Amy, setting them down on her pale beige couch.

"There's enough there for a few days, I can always come back here to grab a few more things as I need them; your apartment is only twenty minutes away after all." Amy patted Sheldon's cheek in a brief caress. "I just need to clear a few items out of my fridge and then we can be off; luckily I was planning on doing my grocery shop today so there isn't much in there to empty out."

"You find a box or bag to empty the things into and I'll give it a quick spritz with some disinfectant." Sheldon offered and Amy nodded in approval; bending down to retrieve her antibacterial spray and a disposable cloth from under the sink.

"It shouldn't be too bad as I only did my fortnightly deep clean last week." Amy handed the items to Sheldon who started wiping down the counter tops as she started emptying out the fridge.

"Amy, you hardly have any food in there to get rid of! What have you been surviving on all week?" Sheldon nudged Amy aside as he saw the paltry items sitting in the small box that Amy had fetched from her closet. There were a few carrots and a lone apple sharing the space with a single pot of yoghurt.

"I don't like to buy fresh food in bulk; there's only me and I hate to waste food. I buy only what I know I will be using and I've already told you that today was supposed to be my grocery day." Amy poured the last few drops of milk out of her left over carton and ran the tap to rinse the liquid away. She emptied the trash and carefully tied the top of the bag closed, placing it near the door to remind her to carry it downstairs when they were leaving. Sheldon glanced over at it and raised his eyebrow.

"Tell me where your trash bins are kept and I'll take it down for you now…otherwise our hands will be all stinky when we go to the market to get supplies for lunch."

"Thanks, sweetheart. Take the stairs or elevator down to the basement, the bins are just to the left. I'll finish the fridge and have a quick look around to check I haven't left anything important behind." Amy pecked Sheldon's cheek and he left with the bag. Amy spritzed the fridge and wedged the door open so that it wouldn't smell once she had switched off the power. She decided to strip the bed down while she waited for Sheldon's return, stuffing the dirty linen into her woven laundry hamper along with the clothes she wore yesterday and the damp towels from the shower that she took as soon as they had arrived at her apartment. Amy was wheeling the hamper back into the living room when Sheldon tapped on the front door announcing his return.

"It's open!" Amy called out and he let himself in, frowning at her as he peered around the doorframe.

"You shouldn't have said that, I could have been anyone!"

"I doubt a thief would have tapped nine times on my door calling out my name in quite the same way that you do, sweetheart; you are pretty unique in that way." Amy grinned over her husband who walked over to the sink to rinse off his hands, and then stood looking around at something to dry them on. Amy offered him the corner of her bath towel and then pointed to the bottle of Purell that rested on the small shelf above her sink. Sheldon spritzed his hands and rubbed them together, spreading the pungent liquid all over his skin.

"Mmm…that's better." Sheldon murmured as he finally felt that his hands were suitably decontaminated. He glanced around the living room and noticed that Amy had placed her laptop case next to her overnight bag. "Do you have everything you need now?"

"I think so." Amy ran through her mental check list and nodded. "Yes, I'm ready…shall we drop these things off at your apartment first and then go out to the market? I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving my laptop and research in my car while we shop." Sheldon nodded in approval and picked up her overnight bag and laundry hamper.

"Very sensible idea, Amy. I'll get these, will you be alright carrying the rest?" His eyes flickered over her abdomen and Amy grinned.

"Sweetheart, it was just one time and I'm fairly certain that I'm okay in my cycle right now."

"That's what we thought before…and then came Emily." Sheldon waggled his eyebrows and Amy threw a cushion at him. Sheldon chuckled as he ducked to avoid the flying missile and then set the hamper down so that he could place the cushion back in the appropriate place. "Come on, darlin' let's get the two of you home."

"Sheldon! I am not pregnant!" Amy picked up her shoulder bag, box from the fridge and laptop case and followed Sheldon out into the hallway. He nudged her aside so that he could double lock her apartment door, and then took the box from her hand setting it inside the laundry hamper.

"You said that last time too, super sperm remember?" Sheldon chuckled again as Amy threatened to hit him with her shoulder bag and they headed toward the elevator. "What's the earliest you can take a pregnancy test these days anyway?"

"You're asking me? How on earth would I know?" Amy glanced over at her husband who just stood inside the elevator grinning like a loon. "I think there are some that are more sensitive than others; seven days I think, but those are the more expensive of the tests."

"Let's pick one up when we're at the market…and no wine tonight, just to be on the safe side."

"If it will make you shut up, then fine; we'll pick one up at the market." Amy gave in finally and missed the smirk of satisfaction that spread over Sheldon's face at her words. If the test turned out to be positive then that was just fine with him, and he expected Amy too; and if it was negative…well that just meant that they had a whole lot more practising to do….he had a feeling that Amy didn't want to take things slow any more than he did if that morning was anything to go by.


	8. Chapter 8

Sheldon and Amy were chatting about their dinner plans as they climbed the last set of stairs leading to the fourth floor landing and Sheldon paused to jerk his head to his jacket pocket.

"Would you mind grabbing my keys out of my pocket, sugar? It's the silver coloured one on the superman key fob." Sheldon insisted on carrying all three of the canvas grocery bags leaving Amy with just the plastic carrier of peaches. She slid her hand into his jacket pocket and rooted around for the key, pulling it out and inserting it in the lock.

"Darn it! I knew I should have put them in my pants pocket instead…that would have been much more fun!" Sheldon grinned over at his wife as she turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open. "Tell me more about this casserole of yours? How is it different from Meemaw's recipe again?"

"Because it uses chicken that you've already roasted. Say you've roasted a large bird and only used half of it; you simply chop up the meat from that joint and make up a sauce from chicken stock and a roux…you can add a soft crust if you only add a little of the sauce and you've got chicken pot pie."

"Hmm…I quite like that idea, I don't usually agree with eating left overs but I suppose if you've transferred the chicken to the refrigerator within two hours of it being cooked and it is in a suitable container it should be alright." Sheldon had his head turned to Amy and it was only a low grumbling noise coming over from the couch that alerted him to the fact that they weren't alone in the apartment. He glanced over his shoulder and gave a groan when he saw that Howard and Raj were sitting on the couch with Leonard at their side. Leonard gave Sheldon a look of apology as he rose up to help with the grocery bags.

"Sorry, buddy…but they wouldn't take no for an answer. I tried to tell them that we weren't having our usual takeout and they just ignored me."

"Don't worry about it Leonard…Amy and I decided that we didn't have enough time to prepare lunch, so we're going to have it tonight instead." Sheldon murmured to his roommate as Howard sidled up to start rooting through the grocery bags.

"Ooh…deli roast chicken, nice!" Howard started to peel off the wrapping from the chicken and Sheldon leant over to rap his knuckles, pointing to the fridge.

"Not for you, Howard…fridge please." Howard grumbled about how he and the others had fought of a marauding bunch from the humanities department and now they weren't even getting fed for their troubles. "Wolowitz, I specifically told Leonard that we would not be providing sustenance after paintball today and yet you still insisted on coming over, if your stomach is complaining now you only have yourself to blame." Sheldon's keen sense of hearing picked up Howard's grumbles and Amy smiled softly as she bent down to pick the last of the bags up from the floor.

"No you don't little lady…you've done enough for a while. Go and sit down, take a load off while I get our sandwiches together…cheese and pickle or ham salad?" Sheldon nudged Amy out of the way, picking the bag up himself and setting it on the counter. Amy frowned at Sheldon's bossy tone and he gently ran a finger down her cheek. "Please?"

"Alright…" Amy begrudgingly agreed, requesting a cheese and pickle sandwich before heading for the couch. She sat down in Sheldon's spot, folding her arms across her chest and leaning toward Leonard. "He's bossier now than before…is he always like this?" Leonard chuckled and exchanged glances with Raj who was looking at the couple in fascination; they both nodded and Amy gave a little grunt of disapproval.

"Wolowitz…if you are that hungry you will find some chips in the bag over there. Please take them and go!" Sheldon was growing increasingly irritated with the way Howard was mooching about and finally snapped his finger at the bag that Amy had been about to lift onto the counter. Too late, Sheldon realised what the last item to be purchased was until Howard pulled it out of the bag.

"Leonard! There something you and Penny want to tell us? I didn't even know you guys were still dating!" Howard brandished the pregnancy test in the air, just as Penny stepped through the door. "Penny!" He ran over to Penny and gave her a hug. "You're a sly one…keeping something like that to yourself."

"Huh?" Penny made a face as she tried to escape Howard's clutches, she finally pulled back enough to glance around the room. "Someone want to fill me in on what I've been keeping a secret?"

"Howard thinks that the two of us have been dating behind his back..." Raj blurted out, and clapped a hand over his mouth; his eyes wide with shock at the fact that he had managed to speak with not only one but two women present in the room.

"Leonard! What have you been saying to them? Didn't you tell them that you slept on the couch?" Penny started yelling at Leonard who held his hand up in appeal.

"I didn't tell them anything, I swear…"

"Penny, it's okay….you can tell us anything." Howard patted Penny on the shoulder and she cringed beneath his touch; finally spotting the pregnancy test in his hand. Her eyes darted to Leonard who subtly tilted his head toward Sheldon and Penny let out an inward squeal of excitement.

"I guess the game's up…I can't conceal it any longer." Penny let out a mock sigh of anguish and threw herself at Sheldon. _Play along _she hissed in his ear. "Oh, Sheldon! I didn't know how to tell you…"

"Um…there, there…" Sheldon reluctantly patted Penny on the shoulder and glanced over at Amy who was grinning all over her face at his obvious discomfort.

"You mean…? You and…?" Howard's mouth fell open in shock as he pointed to Sheldon and Penny.

"Eeeewww!"

"Heck, no!"

They both yelled out, grimacing at the very idea and Amy smiled as she saw that she had nothing to fear from the blonde beauty; there was no chance that Sheldon was even remotely attracted to this Penny creature, that much was obvious from the way he was cringing as she rested her head against his knee.

"There, there? Is that the best you can do, Sheldon?" Penny stuck her tongue out at her friend as she got to her feet. "Jeez, remind me not to come in search of comfort from you again in a hurry." She turned to Howard and shrugged her shoulder. "Sorry to disappoint you Howie, but this womb is currently unoccupied and will remain that way for the foreseeable future."

"So, whose is this then?" Howard waved the box in the air as he glanced around the room expectantly, and then groaned as he saw how close Sheldon and Amy were sitting on the couch. "Aw…Sheldon, you didn't…"

"Hey…I thought you said there wasn't going to be any amorous activities!" Leonard smirked over at his new roommates and watched Sheldon blush.

"That was a momentary aberration and is not likely to be repeated…Amy wishes to take things slowly and I gave her my word." Sheldon squeezed Amy's hand and she smiled up at him.

"Hmm…you may have to be penalised for telling me such a porky…perhaps takeout twice next week as punishment?" Leonard's eyes were sparkling with barely concealed joy as he watched the pair practically squirming with embarrassment. "Only joking, buddy." Leonard leant forward and reached around Amy to pat Sheldon's leg.

"Okay…what in the frack is going on?" Howard couldn't take it anymore and flung his hands in the air. "This is like an episode of 'The Twilight Zone'…I can't keep up…Who are you and what have you done with the real Sheldon Cooper?" Howard slumped on the floor, running his hands through his hair in confusion. "I mean, you met this woman for the first time in ten years and suddenly she's taking a pregnancy test? Come on Sheldon…you're not thinking straight…"

"It's okay, Howard." Leonard leant down to pat Howard on the back and the other man looked up and shook his head.

"No, it's not…don't you remember what happened with that girl that we set Raj up with? She seemed nice enough on the surface but she was only using him…I don't want Sheldon to go through all of that." Howard was clearly distressed at the thought of Sheldon being taken for a ride and shook his head in despair.

"Howard, it's not like that at all." Sheldon left Amy to crouch down beside his friend. "Look at me." Howard reluctantly looked up at Sheldon, noticing that his friend looked years younger and far more relaxed than he'd ever seen before. "Do I look unhappy to you?"

"No…"

"That's because I finally have the love of my life back with me, Howard." Sheldon glanced over at Amy and she smiled softly at him. Sheldon looked down at his left hand and Howard's eyes followed, finally spotting the wide gold band on Sheldon's ring finger. "Thank you for being concerned, you are a true friend, Howard Wolowitz." Amy left her spot on the couch to join Sheldon at Howard's side, surprising them all as she pulled Howard into a warm hug.

"Thank you for caring so much…if it's a boy, I'll name him after you." She whispered into his ear, and he pulled back smiling widely. Howard glanced over at Sheldon and nodded.

"I like this one, she can stay."  
>"Thank you so much for your approval." Sheldon murmured as he helped Amy to his feet, glancing over at Howard… "That was sarcasm, Howard."<p>

"I got it." Howard grinned from the floor and rose to his feet, checking his watch. "I'd better see if Ma's left me anything out for dinner; she's gone to see my Aunt Rosa for the weekend so I'm fending for myself…Just an evening of Ramen noodles and maybe 'The Jazz Singer' to keep me company."  
>"No girlfriend, Howard?" Amy asked from the couch, looking over at the small man in disbelief. "I am surprised that someone with your good taste is without a life partner. You were talking about the 1980 Neil Diamond version were you not?"<p>

"Is there any other?" Howard grinned, "You like Neil Diamond?"  
>"I love Neil Diamond." Amy grinned back, finding herself liking Sheldon's friend more with every passing moment. "I have the 25th Anniversary DVD; why don't you stay for dinner and we'll stick it on?"<p>

"I thought you only brought your essentials with you today?" Sheldon asked as he left his seat on the arm of the couch so that he could head over to the kitchen.

"Neil Diamond is totally essential!" Howard chimed in as he ran over to take a seat in the beige armchair; leaning over the arm to continue chatting with Amy.

"I guess there will be five of us for dinner then." Sheldon mused quietly as he watched his wife and friend giggling over in the corner. He heard a heavy sigh from the far end of the couch and glanced over at the quiet Asian man in the corner. "Might as well have a rave while we're at it! Raj, would you care to join us for dinner?" Raj nodded enthusiastically and Sheldon washed his hands before pulling the tray of deli chicken out of the fridge to start cubing it. Amy glanced up to see Sheldon making a start on the dinner preparations, and with a smile for Howard got up to join her husband in the kitchen.

"He lives with his mother, then?" She murmured to Sheldon as she washed her hands at the sink, and Sheldon nodded. "Thought so, any man that can quote whole passages from that movie couldn't possibly live alone." Sheldon bit back a chuckle at her words, settling for a small grin. Amy started on the sauce for the casserole, pulling the tub of chicken stock from the fridge and peeling back the lid so that she could warm it through in the microwave.

"Anything I can do to help?" Howard leant over the counter and Amy smiled at him as she grabbed a bag of carrots from the fridge and plonked them down in front of him.

"Those need peeling and cutting into small chunks, think you can handle that?"

"Sure, doesn't sound too hard." Howard studied the vegetable peeler and flipped it over in his hand, looking for the right end. Leonard walked over and grabbed the peeler out of his hand.

"Give me that before you hurt yourself." Leonard swiftly moved the peeler over the carrot, removing just the minimum amount from each one. "I'll peel and you can chop."

"What about us? Anything we can do?"

"How are you with making up some dumpling dough or starting the roux?" Amy asked and saw the blank look that appeared on Penny's face. "Okaaay…what about chopping up an onion or finding me some frozen peas?" Penny's face brightened and she nodded.

"I can chop an onion." Amy slid the necessary over to Penny and she made a start. Raj opened his mouth to speak and closed it again. Sheldon glanced up and leant over, nodding as Raj whispered into his ear.

"Raj said he can make dumplings."

"That's great…We need enough for two each." Amy smiled softly at the shy astrophysicist who gave her a slight grin in return. Sheldon passed a large bowl over to Raj who started rummaging in the cupboard for the ingredients he needed. Leonard left the carrots to pluck a beer out of the fridge and set it down beside his friend.

"Raj has problems talking to women, he can only do it after he's had a drink or a sedative." Sheldon murmured in Amy's ear as they moved across to the stove to start on the roux. Amy nodded thoughtfully as she melted a stick of butter in the pan and added the onion that Penny had diced. Sheldon stirred the pot, waiting for the onion to turn translucent so that Amy could add the flour.

"I see, selective mutism… very interesting." Amy stirred the flour slowly into the pan, watching as it formed a golden ball. Sheldon added a little of the stock and Amy stirred briskly; they added the rest of the stock a little at a time until it was all absorbed. "Time for the carrots and the peas, please Sheldon." He added the vegetables and then tipped in the chicken. Amy gave everything a slow stir and then placed the lid on the bubbling pan. "We leave that for a few minutes and then it goes into a casserole pot with the dumplings on top for about forty minutes. What does everyone fancy for dessert? I've got fresh peaches and raspberries, so we could have a simple Peach Melba."

"Mmm, yummy." Sheldon rubbed his stomach and nodded in agreement. "Leonard is lactose intolerant though, so he couldn't have the ice cream."

"I've got some dairy free frozen dessert in the freezer, I could have that instead…what's Peach Melba?" Leonard looked over from where he was washing off the chopping boards, setting them on the drainer to dry off.

"To put simply, it's peaches that have been poached in a sugar syrup served with a raspberry sauce and ice cream. It's quite a light dessert so it won't sit heavily in your stomach like a cobbler would."

"It's yummy, Leonard. Meemaw taught Amy how to make it when she came out to visit us." Sheldon washed his hands again, drying them on a piece of kitchen towel. "Speaking of Meemaw…"

"Yes, we should tell them as soon as possible." Amy answered his question before he had even finished and Leonard grinned, it was like having two Sheldon's in the apartment; only the second was a much improved version of the original!

"I might give Meemaw a call now, she'll know how best to let Mama know." Sheldon glanced over at Amy for approval, and she nodded slightly.

"Go on then, you've got plenty of time before we eat." Sheldon picked up his phone and wandered into his bedroom to make the call; leaving Amy to slide the casserole into the oven for the final stage of the cooking.

"Meemaw it's Shelly…how're things back home?"

_"Moonpie! It's unusual for you to call twice in a month…but lovely to hear from you just the same. Nothing much has changed since we last spoke, but as that was just a few days ago what did you expect?" _Meemaw chuckled a little and Sheldon joined in, letting out a breathy sigh as he folded his long legs beneath him on the mattress.

"Meemaw…something's happened, and I don't quite know how to tell Mama." Sheldon spoke quietly and Meemaw listened without saying a word, knowing that when Sheldon was like this it was best just to let him get things off his chest. "I never thought it would happen like this…I turned around and bam! It was everything and yet nothing like I had imagined…so many emotions tumbling around and I couldn't speak or think for a second."

_"You're not making much sense, Moonpie…Do you want to slow down a little and start from the beginning?"_

"I've found her." With those three little words, Meemaw knew exactly what had her little Shelly in such a tizzy and she let out a quiet sob.

_"Oh, Shelly…I don't know what to say…Is she alright? What's she like? Oh, I think I'm fit to burst!"_

"Meemaw…she's just…I'm…" Sheldon couldn't think of the words to describe exactly how he was feeling and Meemaw chuckled.

_"So she hasn't changed much then? That sweet girl always did have you tongue tied and in a tizzy. Is she there? Can I speak with her?"_

"She's cooking dinner at the moment, we're having the gang over for Chicken Casserole and dumplings. Meemaw, we're going to try and make a go of things this time." Sheldon let his words sink in a little and then continued. "Our feelings haven't changed a bit, Amy explained everything that happened and I don't want a whole heap of questions and accusations thrown at her as soon as Missy and Mama hear about things."

_"Moonpie! Your Mama wouldn't dream of saying such hurtful things and Missy knows better. If you're happy with Amy's explanation then that's all there is to it…no one else even has to know what happened."_

"Thanks Meemaw…Amy's had a tough time of things over the last few months and when she lost her mother, some things came to light that she wasn't aware of and she's still feeling the shock a little."

_"Oh, that poor darlin'…Skype me next time so that I can see how beautiful my girl's grown up to be…She is beautiful, isn't she Shelly?"_

"Very…her hair is straight now and she wears it tied back with little clips above her ears. She's lost a little weight, but that might change soon enough." Sheldon caught his breath at inadvertently revealing the possibility of her pregnancy and Meemaw was shrewd enough to catch it.

_"Are you tryin' to tell me that you're giving me another chance at being a Great Meemaw?"_

"Maybe…we don't know yet, it's too early to tell. We got a little carried away and there's a slim chance that Amy may have conceived; she didn't want to take anything afterwards so I think that she's okay with it."

_"And what about you, Shelly? How would you feel?"_

"Like I'd found the end of the rainbow." Sheldon replied softly and looked up as Amy tapped on the door. She pointed to her wristwatch and then at the hallway and Sheldon beckoned her closer. "Someone wants to say hello." He handed the phone across to Amy and slipped off the bed.

"Hello?" Amy said hesitantly and heard the quiet sobbing coming down the line.

_"Oh darlin'…you sweet, sweet girl." _

"Meemaw, oh you don't know how long I've wanted to hear your voice. I've missed you so much." Amy started crying softly and Sheldon stepped out of the room, giving the two women a little privacy. Amy and Meemaw had clicked as soon as they had first been introduced over the telephone all those years ago. Meemaw had left Texas to travel to Cambridge as soon as Amy had moved in with Sheldon and the two women had become fast friends despite their age difference; both bonding over their deep affection for Sheldon.

Sheldon walked into the kitchen and started laying out plates for their meal, setting them out along the counter and grabbing the cutlery from the drawer. He kept glancing down the hallway every so often, but Amy remained out of sight. Just about when he had decided that dinner couldn't wait any longer, Amy's tear stained face appeared from around the corner and Sheldon shoved the oven mitt at Leonard's chest and ran around the counter to take Amy into his arms.

"Shush, don't cry darlin'…I'm here." Sheldon crooned softly as he stroked his hand through Amy's hair as she sobbed against his shoulder, her hands clutching handfuls of his shirt in her tight grip. Sheldon led her over to the couch and sat her down in his lap as he cradled her gently. "Aw…honey, you'll make yourself sick…"

"I can't help it…she said she loved me!"

"Of course she loves you, in fact she probably loves you more than she loves me." Sheldon said as he cuddled Amy close and ran his hand up and down her back. "You were the reason she called every week wanting to chat, I only used to get a call once a month; as soon as you moved in everyone wanted to call us all of the sudden. You even had George calling asking for advice about Marsha!"

"She was so sweet and kind…I didn't expect that; I thought she'd hate me for leaving you." Amy rubbed her hand over her wet eyes and sniffed hard. Sheldon leant over to grab a tissue and found Raj there holding the box closer, with a sheen of tears behind his own eyes. Sheldon mouthed a thank you and Raj nodded as he moved back to the armchair. Leonard brought the plates of food over and set them on the coffee table, going back to the kitchen to fetch more. Sheldon wiped Amy's eyes dry and urged her to blow. "She wants to come see me…"

"Really?" Sheldon looked startled at the news, and hastened to explain. "I knew that she'd want to see you, but thought that she'd want us to go down there. Meemaw hasn't left Texas for years, she's always said that she was too old to be gallivanting about."

"She wants to come up in a few weeks, just on her own without having to worry about what your Mama or Missy wants to do. She said that she's been keeping something for me and it was time I had it back…what do you think she means?"

"Um…I do know but don't want you to get upset again." Sheldon stared at his hands, and nervously started twisting his wedding ring around on his finger. Amy placed her fingers lightly on his hand and glanced up at him.

"Is this something to do with Emily?" She asked quietly and Sheldon nodded. "Then I won't be upset, how could I be?"

"Because I didn't do like you asked…" Sheldon whispered and Amy struggled to hear him. "I couldn't just toss her away, so I had Mama come down and pack a few things up to take back to Texas with her."

"Oh stringbean, how could I ever be upset with that? I love the fact that you cared enough not to listen to my silly rambles…what did Mary take?"

"Her shawl, the little hat and bootie set that Missy made and something else…"

"What else?" Amy held her breath, hoping against hope that there was one final thing that Sheldon had ignored from her tormented screams.

"Emily…Mama took Emily back with her and Meemaw's taken care of her for all of these years." Sheldon didn't look up, certain that Amy would be running out of the door at any second. Instead he found himself being strangled half to death as Amy threw herself into his arms and peppered his face with kisses.

"I love you…I love you…I love you…" Amy murmured as she continued kissing her husband, thankful for the fact that his heart was as big as the state that he hailed from.

"You're not mad at me for going against your wishes?" Sheldon leant back and gazed down at his wife, Amy shook her head and pressed a firm kiss to his lips.

"No, sweetheart I'm not mad…in fact if we didn't have a living room full of guests, I'd be tempted to show you just how mad I'm not." Amy slid off Sheldon's lap and leant forward to pick up their plates, handing one over to Sheldon and keeping the other for himself.

"Um guys…I have one question…who's Emily?" Raj was sufficiently relaxed enough to address Amy directly and she waved away Leonard's annoyed whisper to Raj begging him to shut up.

"It's alright, Leonard. Emily was our daughter…she passed away the day she was born and I didn't handle it well." Amy forked up a little chicken and chewed it slowly, glancing around to gauge the reaction of Sheldon's friends. Penny was sniffing quietly in the large wooden desk chair, and Amy knew that she and Leonard were already fully aware of the situation. Howard looked at Sheldon in amazement, unable to believe that he could have kept such an awful thing secret for so long. Raj had tears rolling down his cheeks and finally set his plate aside and practically threw himself at Amy; sobbing against her shoulder and grasping for Sheldon's hand.

"He's Hindu…and a firm believer in Karma. He's muttering something about how your daughter will probably be reborn as a Princess in her next life as she didn't get a chance in this one." Howard translated Raj's tearful mutterings and sniffed back a few himself, swiping a hand under his eyes and clearing his throat. "So, now that our dinner is far too salty to enjoy…how about dessert?" Everyone chuckled, just as Howard had hoped and he started piling the barely touched plates on top of one another to carry them into the kitchen, taking the time to dry his eyes on his sleeve and hope that no one spotted him.


	9. Chapter 9

It had been three days since Amy had moved into the apartment with Sheldon and so far neither of the flatmates had any cause to complain. Amy was the perfect addition to their home, she rarely made a mess, was happy to snuggle up next to Sheldon with her Kindle when the guys wanted to watch their favourite shows and was fantastic in the kitchen. Leonard couldn't remember a time when things ran smoother in the apartment. Sheldon was more pleasant to be around, quick to smile and more even tempered; he and Amy were the perfect couple, they kept their displays of affection to a minimum and seemed perfectly content just leaning against each other with their hands clasped as they sat on the couch. It was almost a perfect arrangement; it would have been completely perfect if not for the fact that it was never just the three of them alone in the apartment. It wouldn't have been so bad if it were just Penny that popped across to have dinner with them, no…Raj just 'had' to call in to check whether Amy had seen the latest issue of Neuron magazine, as there was an article he thought she might enjoy. Howard 'had' to call in bringing over a selection of Neil Diamond CD's that he wondered whether Amy had in her collection…and that was just Monday night.

Tuesday night it was the excuse that Raj had seen that there was a documentary on orang-utans in Borneo and he'd taped it just in case Amy had missed it. Howard had seen an advert for a Neil Diamond concert being performed in Los Angeles in July and wondered whether Amy wanted to check it out with him. Sheldon closed the door after the two men had finally left and checked his watch.

"At least they left a little early tonight."

"You call this early? Sheldon, it's nearly eleven!" Leonard groused from the armchair, "We missed Castle and Star Trek because Raj wouldn't shut up about that documentary!"  
>"Yeah, I don't think I even need to watch it now." Amy tossed the DVD down onto the coffee table and rose up from the couch, weaving a little on her feet as she felt a little light headed. Sheldon saw her sway and rushed over to grab her arm.<p>

"Are you alright?"

"I think I just stood up a little too fast." Amy held a hand to her forehead and sank back down onto the seat. Leonard ran into the kitchen to fetch her a glass of water and pressed it into her hand.

"Here, drink this." He sat back down on the edge of the armchair and counted on his fingers. Still too early…He glanced up at Sheldon and saw him doing the same thing, Leonard flashed him five fingers and Sheldon nodded. "Feeling better now?" Leonard asked, and Amy nodded.

"I feel fine, just got a little woozy after sitting for so long and then jumping up like that. It's been busy in the lab this week and I've hardly had time to sit down, I think I'll skip my shower tonight and head straight for bed."

"Good idea, you don't want to have a slip in the shower. You go on ahead, and I'll be in shortly." Sheldon helped Amy to her feet and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She waved goodnight to Leonard and made her way down the hallway, as soon as she was out of sight Leonard turned to Sheldon.

"So? Did she act like this before?"  
>"A little, there were times in the first few months that she would get a little light headed, but it didn't appear until she was at least six weeks." Sheldon paced along the rug in the living room, with his hands on his hips. "It's still too soon, it's only been five days after all. She can't take the test until Saturday at the earliest otherwise it won't pick up the changes in her hormone levels."<p>

"What are your thoughts? Are you hoping she isn't or that she is?" Leonard watched Sheldon's face as he asked the question and Sheldon stopped pacing to turn to his friend with the gentlest smile he'd ever seen.

"I know that we can never replace our little girl, but I'd like nothing more than to be a Daddy again. In those few short seconds that I held my baby; it was like nothing I'd ever experienced and my heart was so full that I thought it would burst."

"Then I hope you get what you've been wishing for. Good night, Sheldon." Leonard rose up from the chair and headed off to bed, leaving Sheldon in the quiet of the living room. He went around the apartment performing his nightly routine, checking the door was locked and deadbolt in place; rattling the window to ensure the locks were secure and then crossing over to the stove to see that everything was switched off. Once he was satisfied, Sheldon flicked the switch in the hallway turning off the main lights and leaving only the wall lights burning dimly. He opened his bedroom door quietly and slipped inside, Amy was nestled under the covers and snuffling gently so Sheldon collected his clean pyjamas and headed into the bathroom to take a quick shower.

Sliding in next to Amy, Sheldon smoothed the covers flat and rolled onto his back knowing that in just a few moments Amy would subconsciously sense his presence and move over to snuggle against him. Sure enough, within five minutes of him settling into bed, a leg was thrown over his hip and her arm snuck around his waist as Amy's head burrowed under his arm to seek out his warmth. Strangely enough, despite spending almost ten years sleeping like Dracula in his coffin, Sheldon didn't mind the boa constrictor hold that Amy subjected him to every night; it made him sleep better and wake feeling more refreshed than he had in years. "Night, darlin'." Sheldon dropped a kiss to her forehead and scooted lower onto his pillow. He rolled slightly to the side and Amy followed him, her leg hooking over his hip as she nestled closer. Sheldon's arm rested on her hip and one hand curved around her stomach protectively as he drifted off into sleep.

"Nooo…" Amy turned her head away from the light tickling sensation drifting over her cheek and nestled back into the warmth. She felt a rumbling beneath her cheek as Sheldon chuckled, and she started mumbling.

"Come on, sugar…it's nearly seven o'clock; you wanted to be at work by eight so you need to get up now."

"Too tired, leave me alone." Amy batted away the finger that was stroking her face and turned her face into the pillow; feeling completely drained of energy and needing more sleep. Sheldon nestled his head a little closer and murmured softly into her ear.

"Do you want me to call in for you, let your team know that you're gonna be a little late?" Amy just nodded and pulled the cover higher around her neck. Sheldon left the bed and slipped out into the living room, bumping in to Leonard on the way.

"I'm not going in today, could you let Alex know for me please?"

"Sure, anything wrong?"

"No, Amy's just a little worn out so I thought I'd take the day off to be with her. I'm gonna leave a message for her boss and then give Gablehauser a call; I'll get a few hours in on my laptop if Amy decides to go in later." Sheldon made the calls quickly and then waved goodbye to Leonard before heading back to his bedroom. Closing the door securely behind him, Sheldon shucked off his robe and slippers and slid back under the covers, curling his lean frame around Amy's curvy figure and pulling her lightly into his arms.

"Mmm…Sheldon." Amy rolled over to resume her earlier sleeping position, tucking her head under his chin and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Sshhh…go back to sleep." Sheldon murmured quietly as he rubbed his chin over her hair, and Amy pressed a light kiss to his neck as she drifted back to sleep. Sheldon wasn't at all sleepy, so he just rested next to her, content just to be holding her in his arms once again. He ran over a few equations in his mind to pass the time and when Amy woke again for the second time it was nearly ten in the morning. She stretched a little and looked up with a sleepy smile.

"Hi."

"Hello again, feeling a little better?"

"Mmm…must have been all of those late night visits from your friends."

"I don't think they were coming over to see me…I think they've been courting you, sugar." Sheldon nuzzled his cheek against her hair, breathing in the scent of her apple shampoo and smiling at her disgruntled look.

"Courting me? Don't they know I'm a married woman?"

"Don't think they care…They've fallen under your spell, darlin' and I don't blame them one bit." Sheldon lowered his head to rub his lips against Amy's in a gentle kiss, she murmured against his mouth and wrapped her hand around his head pressing him to her as she parted her lips slightly to allow him to deepen the kiss. His tongue dipped inside to languidly explore the hidden recesses of her mouth and Amy moaned softly at how good it felt. His mouth left hers to kiss the side of her neck and Amy tilted her head to the side slightly so that Sheldon could move further down. When he stopped, Amy opened eyes that she didn't realise she had closed and peered up at him.

"Sheldon, sweetheart?" Sheldon had rolled over onto his back and was lying with his hand over his eyes as he tried to control himself.

"Just give me a minute…" He said in a ragged tone and Amy nestled against his side, her fingers toying with the buttons on his pyjama top. Sheldon's hand came up to still her movements and Amy could feel his heart thumping in his chest.

"What is it, baby?" Amy asked in a gentle tone, and Sheldon sighed heavily as he turned his head to face her.

"We agreed to take things slowly and I'm having a hard time adjusting. I love the way you wrap yourself around me at night but it can make things…"

"What?"

"Difficult." Sheldon finally settled on the least offensive explanation and drew her hand down to rest lightly against his pyjama pants, hoping that Amy would understand his meaning.

"Oh…well that's alright then." Amy smiled slowly as her hand gently moved against him and Sheldon groaned, wrapping his hand around her wrist with the intention of pulling her away; but instead found himself pressing her hand closer and guiding her movement.

"Aah…that feels good…" Sheldon bit out through clenched teeth and nudged his hips forward slightly, pushing against her hand. "No…I promised…"

"Sweetheart, it's alright…I don't want to go slowly anymore…" Amy whispered softly and Sheldon opened his lust filled eyes, staring into hers for confirmation. What he saw there must have satisfied him as Amy found herself flat on her back in about three seconds flat, and her hands pulled out of temptations way.

"Are you absolutely sure that this is what you want?" Sheldon growled out huskily, and Amy smiled widely.

"Absolutely…"

"Thank the Lord for that!" Sheldon groaned as he quickly divested them both of their nightclothes and started kissing her frantically. "I thought it was just me…Why did I ever think that we could be platonic?"

"Crazy idea…" Amy agreed, pressing her lips to every part of Sheldon's skin that she could get to. "It would never work…"

"Never. I love the smell of your skin, your scent torments my every waking moment…I've been in agony since Sunday…" Sheldon rubbed his face against Amy's breasts, breathing in the light fragrance of her skin. "So lovely." He pressed a kiss against each soft mound and Amy held him to her. _"It feels as though I had a string, tied here under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame…"_ Sheldon whispered the quote from Jane Eyre and Amy felt tears coming to her eyes, it was the very same quote that he had used the night he had proposed.

"It didn't snap." Amy whispered quietly as she hugged her husband to her chest and Sheldon shook his head, pressing a series of softly moist kisses all over her chest.

"No, darlin'…it's still there; binding us together for all eternity." Sheldon gazed deeply into her eyes as he slipped into her body, clasping their hands together as they moved as one. "I love you."

"I love you." They slowly moved together, relishing the languid pace of their union and in no hurry to race for the finish. It could have been hours or just a few minutes when they felt that soft delight creep upon them, and both let out soft murmurs of encouragement and warm sighs as they reached the summit together.

"That will never get old." Sheldon murmured as they snuggled together enjoying the blissful aftermath, Amy nodded as she spread herself over his sprawled frame trying to keep as much of their skin in contact as she could. Sheldon's hands rested on the curve of her buttocks and every so often would massage the firm globes lightly in his hands, enjoying the way that Amy arched into his touch and would let out soft hoots of pleasure.

"Not bad for an old married couple." Amy lightly ran her fingers through the sparse hair on Sheldon's chest, tugging lightly at the soft curls and smirking a little as she felt him stirring back to life.

"I'll show you old." Sheldon growled as he flipped them over in bed and slid back inside her in one swift motion. "Does that feel old to you?" Sheldon flexed his hips forward and Amy moaned softly.

"Do it again and I'll let you know." Amy clasped his buttocks and urged him on. Sheldon grinned and gave a little roll as he rocked forward. "Ah, definitely still some life left in the crusty old professor yet!"

"We're all alone in the apartment…no need to keep our voices down." Sheldon murmured as he thrust forward urgently, spreading Amy's thighs wider so that he could get closer still.

"Oh God…so good…harder, baby!" Amy wrapped her legs around Sheldon's back and pulled him deeper. Sheldon gave a growl as he pulled back and then lunged forward; moving faster and deeper as he finally let himself go. He shoved a pillow beneath Amy's hips and the change in angle had him reaching places that she had only dreamt about. "Yes…Oh…yes, right there…" Amy's chest was flushed with arousal and she threw her head back as Sheldon sent her spiralling into realms of bliss. "Oh…yes, yes…YES!" Amy screamed out as she tumbled into the abyss and Sheldon followed immediately after, throwing his head back and roaring as he pumped his hot seed into her womb; feeling Amy's cells greedily milking him out of every last drop. His hips continued to lazily thrust forward as Amy rippled around him, her hands came down to rest against his taut buttocks as she felt his muscles clench and flex with every slight movement.

"Keep going…lovely…" Amy relaxed back against the mattress and unlocked her legs from around his back. Sheldon rested his hands lightly on her spread thighs as his movements slowed until he was barely thrusting at all, just lazily sliding himself back and forward as easily as breathing. Amy frowned a little when Sheldon stopped as she could still feel him very much alive between her legs.

"Too tired to move…" Sheldon mumbled against her neck and Amy gave him a gentle push to make him roll over onto his back. She moved with him and gently sat up on his lap, resting her hands on his chest for balance.

"Don't worry, sweetheart; I've got this one…you just relax." Amy clenched her pelvic floor muscles together and gave Sheldon a little squeeze. His eyes flew open and he almost sat bolt upright in bed.

"What the heck was that?"

"Just a little something I picked up when I was pregnant."

"You never did that before…Do it again." Sheldon settled himself back against the pillows and rested his hands lightly on Amy's hips. She concentrated and gave him a little squeeze again, feeling him jerk to attention. "Yup, you got this alright…go ahead and do whatever you want…" Sheldon's eyes nearly rolled back in his head at how good she made him feel and he let out a low moan. Amy grinned down at him as she rocked slowly back and forth, gasping as she felt Sheldon more intensely than ever before.

"Won't take long." She murmured softly as she started moving a little faster and Sheldon jerked his hips forward to meet her every downward slide. "Nearly there…Oooh…that's it."

"Come on…let me give you some help there." Sheldon murmured seductively as his fingers slid in between their bodies to lightly stroke her soft folds. "If I remember rightly, you particularly liked it when I did this…" He pressed his thumb lightly against the small nub the poked out and flicked it gently. Amy bit down on her bottom lip and started moving faster, Sheldon's finger and thumb moving along with her as he flicked and massaged until his wrist threatened to bend backwards as Amy squeezed him tightly.

"Aaagghhhh!" Amy screamed as she gave one last slide and reached her third and strongest climax of the morning; Sheldon jerked forward as he got pulled over the edge by the strength of her desire and they both struggled for breath as their bodies cooled down.

"Wow…" Amy rolled carefully off of Sheldon and onto her back, staring at the ceiling as she panted harshly.

"Yeah…" Sheldon could barely move, he felt completely drained of all life; but was in desperate need to clean himself up. "Need shower…"

"Oh God, yeah…that sounds like heaven." Amy turned her head and smiled weakly at her husband, whose hands flopped around before clasping hers. He groaned a little at the thought of getting out of bed, but forced himself to move wincing a little as his muscles protested.

"Maybe I am getting old." Sheldon muttered as he rubbed a hand against his left shoulder, feeling the knotted muscles tightening up as he rotated it gently. Amy got to her knees behind Sheldon and gently massaged the poor abused muscles.

"No, sweetheart…it's just that they aren't used to that sort of activity anymore. We'll have to break us in a little more gently."

"You too?" Sheldon peered over his shoulder and Amy nodded, face tinged with slight embarrassment as she sat with her thighs slightly parted.

"Just a little on the tender side, nothing that a little anti-inflammatory won't cure."

"Sorry, darlin'…guess we were both a little over enthusiastic…how about a warm bath instead of a shower?" Sheldon pressed a soft kiss against her mouth and felt Amy smile against his lips.

"You gonna join me?"

"Minx…that's liable to lead to more trouble instead of easing it. No, I'll hop in the shower first and then start the water running for you. Just relax for a while and I'll call you when it's ready." Sheldon nudged Amy so that she was lying back against the mattress and he gently drew up the covers, pressing another gentle kiss against her cheek before he left. Fifteen minutes later, he had to wake her from her light snooze when the bath water was ready and although she groused at being woken; Amy had to admit she felt tons better as soon as the warm water soothed her tender flesh.

"Don't fall asleep in there; I'll come in to check on you in a few." Sheldon closed the bathroom door and left Amy to relax while he went in to dress and make the bed; he debated whether to change the sheets and finally stripped them off anyway, he had to stop every once in a while as his shoulder was still feeling very sore so it took him twice as long as it normally would. He rubbed it gently with his right hand as he tapped on the bathroom door to rouse Amy.

"I'm not asleep…" Amy's sleepy voice contradicted her words, and Sheldon grinned as he reminded her not to stay in there too long. He hummed lightly under his breath as he set the kettle on to boil and rummaged through the cupboards for some painkillers for Amy, taking a couple for himself when he felt his back and shoulder muscles aching miserably. He glanced at the clock, and bit back a curse as he ran down the hallway to tap on the bathroom door.

"Amy, hurry up…it's nearly four thirty and Leonard will be home soon."  
>"Shit! It's that late? I can't believe we slept the day away."<p>

"We only slept until ten." Sheldon reminded her and she squealed a little before pulling the bathroom door open.

"We had sex for six hours? Shit, it's no wonder I feel like crap…how's your shoulder?"

"Like crap…only doubled." Sheldon gave his shoulder an experimental rotation and Amy could see that it was paining him more than he let on. "I took a couple of painkillers, it'll be fine after a while."

"No more sex until we're healed." Amy stated firmly and Sheldon was all too happy to oblige. "I'm going to get dressed and I'm in desperate need of a cup of tea."

"Already one step ahead of you…The kettle's on and the toast is under the grill." Sheldon waved Amy toward the bedroom and he headed back into the kitchen. Amy had just slid gingerly onto a stool when the front door opened and they both heaved a sigh of relief when only Leonard's face appeared around the frame.

"I come in peace…and alone. The guys have headed straight over to the comic-book store and then they're hanging out with Stuart after; he's got some of his drawings on display in an exhibit across town." Leonard threw his keys into the bowl and crossed over to sit next to Amy at the counter. She gave him a grateful smile and leant her head against his shoulder.

"I like your friends I really do, but do they always come over every night?" Amy groaned and Leonard wrapped his arm around her waist, and pressed a kiss to her hair.

"Sorry, kiddo…they must really like you. I'm gonna get changed and head over to the store myself." He looked over at Sheldon. "You coming buddy?"

"Not tonight, Leonard…I'm not feeling so great, I think I'll give it a miss." Sheldon bent to check on the toast and hissed a little as he felt his muscles protest against the move. He moved a little slower and pulled the grill pan out from under the heat only for his arm to spasm and refuse to co-operate.

"Dang it all, that hurts!" Sheldon let go of the pan and clapped his right hand over his arm as he felt the flames of agony take hold of him. Leonard saw the lines of pain bracketing his mouth and moved around the counter to help.

"Sheldon? What's wrong?"

"Shoulder…spasm…aargh!" Hot tears of pain seeped from beneath Sheldon's eyelids as he fell to his knees and rocked forward.

"Sweetheart, do you have any of your medication left?" Amy carefully crouched at Sheldon's side and gently touched his right arm. He bit into his lower lip so hard that it drew blood and shook his head. "I'm going to take you to the emergency room, I think you need a muscle relaxant and a stronger painkiller, alright?" Leonard expected Sheldon to kick up a fuss but he gave Amy a slight nod of agreement as his face grew paler and tiny beads of sweat formed on his brow.

"Leonard, could you help me get Sheldon to his feet, please? Make sure you don't touch his left side at all." Leonard carefully wrapped his arm around Sheldon's waist and helped him to his feet, Sheldon's face was almost grey as he stood and he started to weave a little when Leonard released him.

"Whoa buddy…let's get you down to the car."

"If you could just get him down the stairs and into the car that would be great." Amy said and Leonard saw that she gave a little wince of her own as she got to her feet.

"Go and knock on Penny's door and see if she can give us a hand. Sheldon may be on the lean side but he's got some weight behind him and Penny's stronger than she looks." Leonard steadied Sheldon and Amy hurried over to cross the hallway. She tapped on Penny's door just as Leonard was steering Sheldon into the hallway. Penny opened the door with a warm smile of greeting that faded as soon as she saw Sheldon almost slumped in Leonard's arms. She rushed over to prop herself against his right side and Leonard gratefully relinquished the weight.

"What's happened? Is it his shoulder?" Penny looked over at Amy who nodded tearfully.

"He got a spasm and can't move his arm at all…It's never been like this, not even when he first did it."

"Don't worry sweetie, I'm sure it's nothing." Penny reassured Amy and hefted his weight under her arm. "Emergency room?"

"Yes, can you manage? I can help…"

"No!" Both Leonard and Penny shouted at the same time and Amy smiled softly.

"I'm not pregnant."  
>"You don't know that for sure, so just take it easy until we do know." Leonard patted Amy on the arm and glanced over at the semi-unconscious Sheldon. "He'd kill me if I let anything happen to you." Leonard scooped Sheldon's legs up and slowly walked backwards down the stairs. "Jeez, it's times like this I wish we never blew up the elevator." He muttered under his breath as he felt Sheldon getting heavier the further they walked.<p>

"I think my arms grew six inches." Penny flexed her arms to loosen them up when they finally reached the car and Leonard leant against the door, taking a deep hit from his inhaler as he nodded weakly.

"Yeah, who'd have thought a weed would weigh so much?" Penny grinned as she carefully manoeuvred Sheldon so that he was propped up against the back seat, gently wiping his sweaty brow with a tissue. Amy's hands were shaking slightly as she tried to insert the key into the ignition and Leonard gently prised them out of her hand.

"Go and sit with Sheldon, honey; I'll drive." Leonard helped Amy out of the driver's seat and opened up the back door. He glanced up at Penny who nodded, sliding into the passenger seat and fastening her safety belt. Leonard started the engine as soon as everyone was settled and they headed to the hospital. It wasn't too far away and within ten minutes, Leonard was pulling around the main entrance and Penny ran around to help Sheldon from the car.

"I'll get him inside while you go and park up." Penny called over her shoulder as she got Sheldon to his feet and he didn't even shy away as she wrapped her arm firmly around his waist. "Come on, sweetie let's get you taken care of." Amy held open the door and got Sheldon checked in.

"My husband was in a serious car accident about ten years ago where his scapula was fractured and major soft tissue damage. He still experiences pain every now and then but today it is particularly bad." Amy explained Sheldon's symptoms and the clerk filled in the details on the system. They both looked around as Sheldon let out an agonising moan and Penny called out.

"Amy, I think he's gonna hurl!" Penny suddenly called over and the clerk hurried around the desk just in time to thrust a bowl into Sheldon's hand as he emptied his stomach.

"Maybe you'd better bring him straight back to the curtain area." The clerk suggested and buzzed them through the doors at the back. "I'll get someone to come and see Mr. Cooper straight away."

"It's Doctor Cooper." Amy corrected automatically as she pulled out a wet wipe from the small pouch in her shoulder bag and started wiping Sheldon's face clean. She spritzed some Purell onto another wipe and carefully ran it over Sheldon's hands, murmuring soothing words to him the whole time. Penny hid a grin at the way Amy carried a walking pharmacy around with her and couldn't think of a better match for her geeky neighbour.

"Mrs. Cooper?" The attending physician stepped through the curtain and glanced up from the chart, gazing between the two women and wondering which one he should be addressing.

"It's Doctor Cooper." Penny and Amy corrected at the same time and Penny pointed over to Amy. "She's Doctor Cooper and he's Doctor Cooper as well."

"My apologies…" The attending scribbled a notation on the chart and walked around the side of the bed where Sheldon was curled up in a tight ball of agony; his right arm clutching his left in a protective manner. "How long ago was it that you last experienced this intensity of pain, Doctor Cooper?"

"About five years…." Sheldon bit out, feeling another surge of nausea stinging the back of his throat. He swallowed hard and Amy correctly interpreted his expression, nudging a clean bowl closer to his arm.

"Any strenuous or unusual activity that may explain your sudden onset?" The doctor paused as he caught the glance exchanged by the married couple and the sudden flush that appeared on their cheeks. "Aah, I see…" He nodded and made another notation. He set the chart down and pulled on a pair of gloves glancing down at Sheldon as he started to gently manipulate the shoulder. Sheldon's face got paler as the attending rotated the joint and he bit back a cry as he hit a particularly tight spot. "The scar tissue is quite raised and hard just around your clavicle and upper arm. I would have expected the tissue to soften up and stretch over time with exercise and general use but in your case this hasn't happened. Are you a particularly active man, Doctor Cooper?"

Penny snorted at the very idea and the attending gave a small smile. "I take that as a no. Your injury site has developed a raised area of skin called a Keloid; usually these tend to fade and soften over time but your original tissue damage was quite extensive and the area covered by Keloids is quite vast. The Keloid tissue has grown hard through inactivity and as such hasn't stretched with your muscles; your sudden change in activity has not only strained your muscles but has caused the Keloids to become a bit of an issue."

"What's the solution? Cortisone injections?" Amy looked up from where Sheldon was gripping her hand tightly and the attending nodded.

"To start with yes, I want to give Doctor Cooper a dose of cortisone today and want him to come back for another shot in two days' time; I also want him to have some heat therapy and soft tissue massage. He'll have to come back to the physical therapy department for the heat therapy and they'll want to see the X-Rays from the original injury; I'll contact Mass General and have them send them over." The attending updated Sheldon's chart and nodded as he peeled back the curtain. "Someone will be back to give the Cortisone shortly."

"Thank you, doctor." Amy smiled in thanks and turned back to Sheldon, brushing his hair back from his forehead soothingly. "You're going to be just fine, sweetheart."

"I don't like needles, Amy…will you hold my hand?"

"Of course I will." Amy leant over to brush a soft kiss against Sheldon's cheek and he turned away slightly.

"Vomit breath." He muttered and Amy kissed his forehead instead. Penny grinned and tapped Amy's arm.

"I'm going to pop outside and update Leonard, he'll need to let the guys know that he won't be meeting them for Comic-book night." Amy nodded, and Penny slipped outside of the curtain to find Leonard. She passed a nurse taking over a tray containing Sheldon's medication and just as she was about to go into the waiting area the familiar sounds of a soothing lullaby drifted out from behind the curtain.

_"__Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur…"_


	10. Chapter 10

"Come on buddy, let's get you in bed." Leonard huffed and puffed as he nudged Sheldon inside the apartment. The taller man was weaving on his feet and giggling under his breath as he reached up to pat Leonard on the shoulder.

"You're a good friend, Leonard…I love ya, buddy…buddy…buddy…buddy…kinda makes ya sound like a puppy doesn't it?" Sheldon giggled again and Leonard gave a sigh, wondering why it took copious amounts of painkiller before Sheldon could say something nice. Sheldon pouted as Leonard half carried, and half dragged his roommate across the living room; Penny having to dash off in order to make her evening shift at The Cheesecake Factory. "Don't you love me too? Aw….Amy, Leonard doesn't love me…" Sheldon started to sniff, his blue eyes shining with tears as he looked over his shoulder at his wife; Amy just grinned and took Sheldon's hand.

"I'm sure he does, sweetheart…he's just a little shy, aren't you Leonard?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah…I'm shy alright." Leonard groaned as Sheldon suddenly leant his whole body weight against his roommate and squeezed him with his good arm; his left hanging loosely at his side.

"I knew you loved me really…why wouldn't you? I'm so lovable…"

"Alright, Sheldon…let's get you ready for bed." Amy walked over to the dresser and pulled out Sheldon's assigned pyjamas, leaving the undershirt behind. "This might hurt a little, sweetheart as we need you to take your shirts off."

"You just wanna see me naked…" Sheldon blew Amy a noisy kiss as his hands slipped to the fastening of his pants and Amy quickly stilled his movements, blushing as she looked over at Leonard.

"No, sweetheart…Leonard doesn't need to see that…let's just concentrate on getting your t-shirts off for now." Sheldon grumbled under his breath at how she never let him have any fun but remained still as Amy carefully raised the hem of his shirts up to his armpits. "Okay, just lift your left arm a little so that I can slip it out of your sleeve…that's it…nearly done." Amy quickly lifted the shirts over Sheldon's head and tugged his right arm free, placing the two shirts in the laundry hamper. Leonard sucked in a sharp breath as he saw the heavy scarring running across Sheldon's shoulder and halfway down his shoulder blade.

"I never knew it was like that…He always said it was because he didn't like his skinny arms and that was why he kept them covered; it explains why he liked to keep the thermostat down low, he must have sweltered in those long sleeves during the summer."

"He looks great in short sleeves, they really show off his wiry arms…" Amy mused, stroking her hand down Sheldon's forearm and he murmured at her soft touch. Leonard glanced down and was quite surprised at how taut Sheldon's upper body was for a man that hated physical exercise, he looked down at his own stomach and gave it a little prod; feeling the slight pudding feeling as his finger sank in. Amy looked over at Leonard's grimace and chuckled softly.

"Never mind, Leonard… a few weeks of eating properly will soon sort that out."

"You think?" He said doubtfully and Amy nodded.

"I know…You wait and see, if you haven't lost five pounds in the next fortnight I'll treat you to a movie."

"You're on." Leonard grinned over at Amy and Sheldon leant across to tap his arm. "Yeah, buddy?"  
>"No canoodling with my wife, Leonard…It's enough that Wolowitz and Koothrappali wanna get in her pants without having to worry about you too." Sheldon slurred out his warning and nearly toppled over on the mattress, Leonard propped him back upright as Amy chuckled softly.<p>

"Sheldon, I told you already they don't want to get in my pants!"

"But your pants are so cute…" Sheldon nuzzled at Amy's shoulder and she had to push his hands away as they started roaming into dangerous territory.

"Okay, Romeo…let's leave that until you're not under the influence." Amy slipped Sheldon's pyjama top over his arms and swiftly buttoned it up. "Leonard, could you help me shift him up the bed?"

"I can do it, don't want my baby mama getting herself hurt." Sheldon pushed Amy's hands away from his torso and rolled over to shuffle up the bed.

"Sweetheart, for the last time…I am not pregnant!" Amy shouted and then pressed a hand against her forehead as she shook her head. "Never mind, he won't even remember this conversation in the morning anyway." She wrestled Sheldon's pants down and tugged them over his ankles, passing them over to Leonard who placed them in the laundry hamper. By the time he turned back, Amy had pulled Sheldon's pyjama pants up and he was snoring loudly into the pillow having succumbed to the effects of the cortisone and anti-nausea medication that they gave in the hospital. Amy and Leonard left him slumbering and made their way back into the living room, where they slumped wearily onto the couch, kicking off their shoes as they got comfortable.

"What a day!" Amy groaned, tilting her head against the arm of the couch, Leonard glanced over and tossed over a small cushion that Amy gratefully placed under her head.

"Do you want me to have a word with Raj and Howard? I can ask them to back away a little if they're getting too much?" Leonard sounded worried, and Amy patted his arm as it rested between them on the couch.

"It's fine, Leonard, honestly…It's quite flattering really, I've never been so popular in my life. It will soon wear off once they realise that I'm really not that exciting…I like nothing more than to sit quietly reading or piecing together a quilt; hardly the stuff of a fantasies."

"You'd be surprised, Raj dreams of a woman that he can shower with affection and raise a family with; Howard…well, it's best not to think about what kind of woman Howard fantasises about!" They laughed softly for a moment and then Leonard leant over to switch on the TV. "Ooh, Star Trek movie marathon is just starting…do you mind?"  
>"Not at all, I prefer Star Trek to Star Wars…I'll get the popcorn!" Amy headed into the kitchen to pop a bag of popcorn into the microwave and glanced down at her sensible clothes. "I'm just going to slip into more comfortable, keep an eye on the microwave?"<p>

"Sure." Leonard hopped up from the couch, and filled up the kettle as Amy headed into the bedroom to change. If Penny had made such a comment, he would have been leaping about in excitement thinking that she would reappear in a slinky negligee; but Leonard had already seen Amy's version of 'more comfortable' and it was usually baggy sweatpants with one of Sheldon's old t-shirts over the top; her hair scraped into a loose ponytail and a pair of large oversized glasses perched on her nose. She looked like a little girl playing dress up and Sheldon may find it very appealing but to Leonard she just looked cute but not remotely sexy.

Amy reappeared a few moments later and Leonard grinned at the sight of her, she had chosen a pair of fleecy pyjama pants with a long sleeve thermal shirt over the top. It depicted a faded caricature of Bones from the original series and had a large speech bubble coming from his mouth stating 'I'm a doctor not a…"

"Not a what?" Leonard pointed to the front of Amy's shirt and she grinned back at him, showing him the back of her shirt where the speech bubble was completely blank.

"Anything at all…It was a gag gift from my aunt Flora; she knew that Sheldon and I used to watch the show together and she bought it for my birthday when I first moved back here."

"It's nice, make sure you keep it away from Sheldon." Leonard smiled at her as he tipped the popcorn into a large bowl and carried it over to the couch. They settled in to watch the first of the franchise, and Leonard flipped a blanket down to cover their legs as they dimmed the lights to enjoy the movie.

"You're watching Wrath of Khan without me?" Sheldon's sleepy accusing tone from the hallway had Leonard looking over a few hours later to see his friend rubbing the heel of his hand against his eyes as he stood near the armchair.

"Hey buddy, how're you feeling?"

"Not too bad, my shoulder's still very stiff but I don't feel sick anymore; just really spaced out." Sheldon yawned and ran his hand through his hair as he shuffled over to the couch. He frowned at the way Amy and Leonard were sharing the blanket and Leonard grinned a little as he moved to the other end of the couch and Sheldon sat down in the middle, rather than insisting that he sit in his normal spot.

"Come and sit here, Sheldon; you might bump up against Leonard if you stay in the middle." Amy flipped back the blanket and got to her feet, pointing at the far left edge of the couch. Sheldon scooted across and Amy curled up against his side, spreading the blanket over all of them as they turned back to the screen.

"Is that one of my shirts you're wearing?" Sheldon whispered as he ran his finger over the sleeve of Amy's top. She shook her head as she leant closer to murmur in his ear.

"You don't have any character shirts like this; it's definitely mine."

"It's great Sheldon, you'll be so jealous." Leonard leant around Amy to grin at his friend. "I've never seen one quite like it before."

"Show me, I couldn't see it properly when you got up before." Sheldon tugged on Amy's arm and she grumbled as she rose up from the couch again.

"You're making me miss the good stuff…"  
>"We've got the Blu-Ray box set anyway." Sheldon waved her objection aside and flicked on the side lamp so that he could get a good look at her shirt. He let out a breathy chuckle as he read the caption and then circled his finger to make Amy turn around. "Oh, it's blank…that's a little disappointing."<p>

"Not really, it means that I can say anything I like…such as when you ask me whether I know how the flow rate in a pipe depends on its diameter… I can answer with 'I'm a doctor not…'"

"An engineer!" Sheldon chuckled and shook his head, "Ah, good one…Maybe I should get one for myself and have that added to the back."

"You won't be able to, my Aunt Flora had this one made up for me at a convention one year."

"Ooh, so it's a one of a kind?" Sheldon's eyes grew wider as he stroked the sleeve again, and Amy tugged it out of his grip.

"Hands off, buster…This one's mine."

"Amy…what happened to 'with all my worldly goods, I thee endow'?" Sheldon quoted their marriage vows and blinked up innocently at his wife, she sat back down on the couch and covered herself completely with the blanket.

"I'll think about it." Amy groused as she snuggled back down to try and catch up with the action on screen. Sheldon sat back happily and wrapped his arm around her waist as he beamed a happy smile over at Leonard.

"You hear that Leonard? She's gonna think about it, ain't she great?"

"Shut up and watch the movie." Amy ordered and Sheldon rubbed his cheek against the soft fabric covering her shoulder.

"Yes, dear." Leonard grinned at Sheldon's obedient tones and all three of them turned their attention back to the screen. A few moments later, Sheldon reached over to flick off the lamp and the only light was from the glow of the TV as they immersed themselves in the epic battle being played out before them.

"Danger! Danger!" Sheldon's eyes flicked open suddenly as the sound of the front door opening brought him out of a deep sleep. He let out a groan as his shoulder protested at the sudden movement and Amy sleepily asked if everything was alright.

"It's nearly nine Sheldon; I was worried when I didn't hear any of you leaving for work." Penny walked into the living room and leant down to switch off the TV, giving Leonard a nudge awake with her foot.

"Huh?" Leonard blinked sleepily, and rubbed the bridge of his nose where his glasses had been lying crookedly all night. He saw the sunlight streaming through the window and checked his wristwatch. "Gablehauser's gonna freak…I'm supposed to be meeting with him in less than an hour!" Leonard threw back the blanket and jumped to his feet, running his hand over his chin as he tried to decide whether he had time to shave or not. "Sheldon, you coming or not?"  
>"Not." Amy called out. "He's got a therapy appointment at eleven followed by a soft tissue massage. I'll call in for him and let them know that he won't be in for the rest of the week."<p>

"Okay, I'm gonna grab a quick shower…I will love you forever if you could put me in a couple of slices of toast or a bagel while I get ready." Leonard asked hopefully and ran off when Amy agreed. She folded the blanket neatly and placed it over the back of the couch, before rising up to head into the kitchen.

"Toast, Sheldon?"

"Please." Sheldon nodded, and headed over to slide onto a stool at the counter. "And a couple of those painkillers as well if you don't mind." Amy nodded as she popped the bread in the toaster and tossed the bottle of medicine over for Penny to open.

"I'll just call the university for you…what's the name of the man I need to speak with?"

"Doctor Eric Gablehauser; head of the Physics department." Sheldon confirmed, "His numbers on speed dial 4 on the house phone." He swallowed the pills shook out of the tub by Penny and chased them down with a tumbler of juice.

"This should be good…I wonder what Gablehauser will have to say about a woman calling in sick for you." Penny edged her way around the counter to listen in on Amy's side of the conversation with Sheldon's manager.

"Doctor Gablehauser? I'm calling on behalf of Sheldon Cooper…"

_ "Ah, you must be Sheldon's mother; what's he done now? Run back home to Mommy because he couldn't book time on the super computer?"_

"Excuse me?" Amy's affronted tone must have warned Gablehauser that she was not impressed with his cavalier attitude and he immediately coughed a little to clear his throat.

_"Forgive me, Mrs Cooper…What appears to be the trouble?"_

"It's Doctor Cooper if you don't mind, and I am not Sheldon's Mother, Grandmother or sister for that matter! My husband will not be attending work for the rest of the week…""

_"Husband? My dear Mrs. Cooper…!"_

"Really doctor, I have already corrected you once on my title…I struggle to see how you could have been awarded such a prestigious appointment if you can't even get one simple fact straight…Let me try and make it as simple as possible for you; Yes, Doctor Cooper is my husband; no, it's not a recent development and yes, he will be requiring you to note him as taking two days sick leave on your records. Is that clear enough for you?"

_"Um, yes?"_

"Is that a question or a comment?"

_"I mean, yes Doctor Cooper; that's perfectly clear."_

"Good day then." Amy rang off and shook her head as she replaced the handset. "Imbecile." She muttered under her breath and looked up at the sound of a slow handclap coming from the kitchen.

"Amy, you were brilliant!" Sheldon smiled broadly and Amy flushed a little with embarrassment.

"Yeah, you really gave him what for!" Penny hooted with laughter, "The way you told him off for thinking you were Sheldon's Mom…Classic!"

"Well, he was being a bit of an ass; hardly a professional attitude to take." Amy made her way over to the kitchen and popped Leonard's toast onto a plate, setting it out ready for him to eat. She sent a message to her own department head and let her know that she needed to take a few days leave herself, and once done slid the phone back into her pocket.

"What's all the giggling about in here?" Leonard asked as he came back from his shower, grabbing his toast and wrapping it in a piece of kitchen paper.

"Amy called in for Sheldon and your boss thought she was his Mom!" Penny explained and Leonard winced a little as he looked over to see what Sheldon's reaction was; Sheldon gave Leonard a faint smile and shook his head.

"You may find Gablehauser in a bit of a strange mood; Amy did not appreciate being referred to as Mrs Cooper twice in a row, despite the fact that she had already corrected him once before…He may have some questions for you, just refer him back to me."

"Yeah, he can be a bit of an old gossip; be prepared for everyone to know your business by the time you get back on Monday. Thanks for the breakfast Amy, I gotta go." Leonard grabbed his bag from the desk chair and hooked it over his shoulder as he ran out of the door. Penny glanced at the clock and twisted her face up.

"Yeah, I've pulled another shift that starts in an hour so I'd better get moving as well."

"Thank you for yesterday, Penny. It was much appreciated." Amy smiled at her new neighbour and Penny reached over the counter to pat her hand.

"No problem, Amy; it will be nice having someone to hang out with when the guys get together for their games nights; perhaps we could do something over at my place instead?"

"That sounds lovely, I've never had a proper girl friend to talk to…I look forward to it." Amy's smile broadened and Penny grinned back as she walked over to let herself out.

"See you later, whackadoodle!"

"Goodbye, Penny." Sheldon raised his hand in farewell and Penny chuckled at his formal tone, leaving the couple alone to get ready for their morning appointment.


	11. Chapter 11

"Well, that wasn't as unpleasant as I feared." Sheldon stated as he and Amy walked into the lobby after his heat treatment. They'd had lunch while they were out and also called in to Amy's Glendale apartment to empty her mailbox. Sheldon rotated his shoulder experimentally and nodded slowly. "It feels much better already…maybe I won't be requiring that soft tissue massage after all." Amy caught the hopeful note in Sheldon's tone and shook her head ruefully.

"Nice try…but you're still going." Sheldon pouted a little and Amy chuckled. "We only have to attend the one appointment and then I can perform the same massage at home; if you behave, I'll take you out for a treat afterwards."

"Ooh, can we go to the train store?" Sheldon's disappointment immediately vanished at the prospect of Amy taking him to one of his favourite places. "Or the Lego store…or Disney…" Sheldon ticked off his haunts one by one only to be interrupted by the incessant buzzing of Amy's cellphone; she held up her finger to hush Sheldon's excited tones as she checked the caller display unit.

"Hello? Doctor Amy Cooper speaking." Amy adopted a professional tone as she answered the call, not recognising the number on the display.

_"Where the Hell are you? And why haven't you been answering your calls?" _The sound of an irate male voice blasted out of Amy's speakers and she winced a little as it assaulted her eardrums. _"I checked your lab but they said you were taking a few day's leave…What's going on?"_

"Who's yelling at you, sweetheart? Do you want me to speak with them?" Sheldon whispered in her ear and Amy waved her hand to make him move away.

_"I can hear someone with you…"_

"I don't appreciate you yelling at me as if I were a child that needs to check in with you all of the time. If you speak in a cordial manner, then I don't think we have anything further to say to one another."

_"Aw, don't be like that…I just got worried when I couldn't get in touch with you. Has your phone been playing up or something? I must have left at least three voicemails yesterday when you weren't picking up."_

"I haven't checked my voicemail today and couldn't have my phone switched on last night. Listen, this is a really bad line…can you call back on the landline in a few minutes? Let me give you the number."

_"I think I know your number by now."_

"I'm not at my apartment, listen it's a long story just call me back on…?" Amy glanced over at Sheldon who recited his landline number and Amy repeated it down the phone before disconnecting the call and sliding her phone back in her purse. "I guess you know who that was by now…"

"Yeah, you should have let me speak to him." Sheldon replied as they started making their way up the stairwell to the fourth floor. "He shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

"He didn't mean it, and I didn't want to get into an awkward conversation with him in a communal area; I think something like that needs to be discussed privately." Amy waited patiently as Sheldon unlocked the apartment door and waved her ahead of him. She walked in and immediately removed her jacket, hanging it in the living room closet and holding out her hand to take Sheldon's windbreaker.

"I'm going to take a quick shower, my clothes smell like a hospital." Sheldon sniffed his sleeve and wrinkled his nose up at the so called smell; Amy nodded and took a seat on the armchair, anxiously awaiting the expected telephone call. Sheldon dropped a quick kiss to her cheek as he passed the chair and murmured for her to call him if she got upset and Amy mustered up a quick smile, and gave his hand a quick squeeze in thanks. When the telephone finally rang, she almost jumped out of her skin, and picked it up with shaking hands.

"Hello?"

_"Ames, you ready to talk to me now? What's going on pumpkin?"_ The man's quietly soothing tone was completely different from his attitude previously and Amy smiled softly as she kicked off her shoes and curled her legs up in the chair.

"Oh, Ritchie…it's so good to hear your voice, so much has happened over the last couple of days, I barely know where to begin."

_"I've got a few hours to kill, why don't you start from the beginning?"_ Amy could almost see him stretched out on a bench, propping the phone beneath his chin as he got himself comfortable; a pose that she'd seen so often over the years.

"I've moved out of my apartment for a start…I'm living in Pasadena now and have a new roommate; actually I have two if you want to be completely accurate."

_"Pumpkin, you haven't got yourself a bunch of cats like some crazy old lady have you? I knew I should've come stateside more often…"_

"No, I haven't got any cats…these are living, breathing roommates of the human kind." Amy giggled as she heard Ritchie's sigh of relief clearly echoing down the landline. "I met someone online and we started chatting, and then we decided to meet up in a little coffee shop…it was the best thing I ever did."

_"Then I'm happy for you…of course I am. I've got some news of my own to share, I'm going to be transferring back to US soil in a few weeks…"_

"Oh Ritchie…that's so great! I can't wait to see you!" Amy's smile almost threatened to split her cheeks in half and she hugged the phone closer to her cheek. "I wish I could give you a hug in person right now, I've missed you so much." Amy was shrieking into the phone and missed Leonard letting himself into the apartment, he saw that she was talking and quietly started making his way down the hallway toward his room.

_"I've missed you too, pumpkin. I've got a few days leave before I start my new post and was actually calling to see whether I could crash at your place for a few nights from Friday."_

"This Friday? I've still got the apartment, we could meet there when your flight gets in. I can't wait to see you, it's been too long." Amy murmured quietly into the phone, and Leonard hustled down the hall to tap quietly on Sheldon's bedroom door, glancing worriedly over his shoulder at the way Amy was practically cooing into the receiver.

"Um, buddy…I don't quite know how to say this, but…"

"What is it Leonard?" Sheldon pulled open his bedroom door, having finished his shower and re-dressed in a set of clean clothes.

"Amy's on the phone and it sounds like she's planning on meeting someone at her apartment on Friday…" Leonard's voice trailed off, and he gazed down at his shoes not wanting to believe what he'd overheard. He felt completely miserable and his eyes started to smart with the sting of tears. Sheldon closed his bedroom door and started walking down the hallway, glancing back over his shoulder.

"Friday you say?"

"Yeah, Friday." Leonard nodded slowly and wondered why Sheldon suddenly seemed so full of beans, he followed his friend down the hallway to see Sheldon lean over to tap Amy on the shoulder.

"Ritchie?" Sheldon murmured and when Amy nodded he held out his hand for the phone. "Oooh, lemme speak to him." Sheldon bounced on the balls of his feet like a puppy begging for a treat and Amy finally gave in. "Ritchie, someone wants to have a word…be gentle." She handed over the phone and Sheldon let out his signature breathy chuckle as he took it from her.

_"I don't friggin' believe it! Coop, is that really you?" _Richard asked, recognising the laugh hoping that he was right and wasn't in the middle of some crazy hallucination.

"Yes, it's really me." Sheldon nudged Amy to one side so that he could squeeze in next to her in the armchair. Leonard scratched his head as he saw the crazy smile blossoming on Sheldon's face as he chatted away on the telephone and wondered what kind of rabbit hole he had fallen into. "So, you're coming into town on Friday?"

_"Yeah, a few days leave before I start my new post…I don't want to say too much as I want it to be a surprise for Amy. I guess you were the one she was chatting to on line, small world."_

"Indeed it is. Did you ever go onto flight school after you graduated BU?" Sheldon asked, settling himself in for a long chat as he reconnected with his old friend, and Amy snuggled against his side as she listened in on the conversation. Sheldon flicked a switch on the base of the phone and suddenly Ritchie's voice filled the apartment as Sheldon placed him on speaker.

_"Sure did, Coop. You'll have to get Ames to show you the photos of my F18; you'll get a kick out of what the guys painted on the side for me. Pumpkin, show Coop the one that I sent through to your phone."_

"Okay, hotshot hold your horses." Amy grumbled good-naturedly as she leant forward to pick up her phone from the coffee table and started flicking through the countless images that Ritchie had sent her over the years. She finally found the one that Ritchie mentioned and held it up for Sheldon who chuckled at the picture. Ritchie's jet had a cartoon of the Star Trek Enterprise painted on the side with the words "Ritchie 'Make it so' Fowler" stencilled underneath.

"Ah, I taught you so well; nicely done flyboy."

_"Yup, after seeing that slideshow you put together it was no more Babylon 5 for me. We had some good times back then didn't we? What about that weekend that your Meemaw paid a surprise visit?"_

"The movie marathon weekend…Meemaw thought she was tickling her Moonpie awake only it turned out to be you snoozing on our couch!" Amy giggled at the memory and Sheldon let out a breathy chuckle.

"She's coming to visit us soon, it would be great if you were around at the same time."

_"Let me know when she's coming and I'll see what I can arrange, I've missed her pancakes and that Pecan pie she made at Thanksgiving was out of this world."_ Ritchie gave a heartfelt sigh and fell silent for a brief spell. _"I'm glad the two of you found each other again, despite what Mom did."_

"You know about that?" Sheldon asked in surprise and Amy leant over to whisper that she emailed Ritchie as soon as she had found the bundle of letters, wondering whether he had known anything about them.

_"Yeah, Ames gave me the lowdown…I swear I didn't have anything to do with it Coop, I know how much you loved her and I wouldn't hurt her like that."_

"I know flyboy…you're a good man."

_"So are you, Coop. Anyway you take care of my baby sister and I'll see you both very soon. Catch ya later alligator!"_

"After a while crocodile…" Sheldon chuckled at hearing Ritchie's familiar send off and Amy called her goodbyes before they disconnected the call.

"So…Ritchie's your brother huh?" Leonard said, glancing over to see Amy's nod. "Boy, am I glad to hear that! I was getting kinda worried for a while there…" Leonard slumped down on the couch and let out a huge sigh of relief. "You never mentioned that you had a brother and said that none of your family was at your wedding; I thought you were hiding a secret boyfriend or something."

"I have an older brother, Richard; or Ritchie as he prefers to be called. He was finishing up his undergraduate studies in aeronautical engineering at Boston University when Sheldon and I first met; he used to come and spend weekends with us at Harvard and he and Sheldon bonded over their love of sci-fi and comic-books. When we got married, Ritchie had just started at the naval academy and it was too short notice for him to book leave."

"So…no secret boyfriends that we…err Sheldon has to worry about?" Leonard asked and Amy shook her head.

"Nope, none at all. What about him? Any secret girlfriends that I need to start stalking on Facebook?" Amy joked, pointing at her husband and Leonard gave Sheldon a jab on the shoulder.

"What? He never told you about Ramona? Sheldon, you dawg…" Leonard started chuckling as he saw Sheldon's panicked expression, and almost choked on his laughter as Amy's expression suddenly turned icy cold as she jabbed a sharp finger at her husband's chest.

"Who the Hell is Ramona?"


	12. Chapter 12

"Uh-oh, I think we've come at a bad time…back away slowly, Raj and don't look into her eyes!" Howard's lame attempt at lightening the tense atmosphere that he and Raj had walked into backfired when Amy hissed at them between her teeth.

"She was just a grad student that tried to get a little frisky with Sheldon…I was trying to be funny, but I guess it didn't work." Leonard tried to smooth things over but just ended up making things worse.

"You've just sat there and told me that a young woman wanted to get frisky with my husband! How can that be funny in any way shape or form?" Amy switched her icy cold gaze to Leonard and he felt his testicles threatening to shrink back inside his body as he faced her wrath. Sheldon was huddled up in his spot in a small ball of misery, feeling certain that Amy would be packing her suitcase to leave at any given moment. Amy's gaze softened slightly as she glanced over at her husband and she patted him on the knee.

"Sweetheart, I'm not mad at you; you can't help being a sexy praying mantis, that's all down to your genes." Sheldon's face brightened at her soft murmur and he straightened up in his seat as Amy turned back to Howard and Leonard, waving her hand in their direction. "I'm not through with you guys just yet…I've known Sheldon a lot longer than you and I know that if Penny were to walk in here now and strip naked in front of him, he would probably assume that she was running a fever and then remark that her breasts were slightly asymmetrical before turning back to his comic-book. You would have known exactly what this 'Ramona' was after, why didn't you say something to warn him?"

Howard was silent for a moment, his brain stuck on the image of Penny stripping in the middle of the living room and it was only when Raj poked him in the ribs that he jerked out of his fantasy. "Ramona was too scary…I didn't want to get hurt." Howard shuddered in remembrance, a move echoed by all three men and Amy grinned, liking the fact that she'd found something to use as a possible threat in the future.

"She couldn't have been that scary, she must have been what…twenty two or so?"

"Trust me, Amy…she was like that blonde Terminator from Rise of the Machines." Leonard said and Sheldon moved a little closer, seeking comfort from his wife as she left the armchair to sit next to Sheldon. She murmured softly to her husband and clasped his hand gently, feeling his fingers wrapping around hers as Leonard continued to speak. "She was just a grad student that asked Sheldon to take a look over her papers and offering to be his gofer if he needed anything."

"I thought she was just being nice, I looked over her papers and pointed out one or two minor errors, and she offered to buy me dinner as a thank you." Sheldon whispered quietly, his grip tightening on Amy's hand.

"The only thing was…she brought dinner over to the apartment and she never left."

"It's true…she slept on the couch and decided that in order for Sheldon to fulfil his potential he had to concentrate fully on his work and not be distracted by anything else. She banned him from watching 'non educational' television, no paintballing and definitely no take outs; insisting that Sheldon only eat fish, tomatoes, broccoli and nuts to boost his brain power. Poor sap had absolutely no idea what was going on." Howard interjected with a pitying glance at Sheldon and Raj nodded silently, his eyes wide with sympathy.

"It was torture, Amy…She made me a virtual prisoner in my own home." Sheldon shuddered in recollection, and turned to his wife. "No Battlestar, or Star Trek…and worst of all; she wouldn't even let me go to new Comic-Book night!"

"Why didn't you just ask her to leave?" Amy asked, puzzling over what seemed to be the natural solution, Leonard shook his head and pointed to Sheldon.

"He thought it was working, he was getting great results with his equations but was horrible to live with; his attention span outside of his work was practically zilch…"

"That's because his brain was constantly 'on' and he wasn't being allowed time to recharge. Let me guess, he finally lost his temper one day and just snapped?" Amy glanced over at Sheldon, who was nodding but keeping quiet, content to let Leonard do all of the talking.

"Yeah, he made a breakthrough and Ramona suggested that they share credit on his paper when it was published; Sheldon hit the roof and just yelled at her to get out…We never saw or heard from her again. How did you know?" Leonard asked, wondering whether Sheldon had already told Amy all of this and she was just enjoying watching them squirm.

"Hypersensitivity combined with a high intellect. Sheldon's brain is easily overwhelmed by too much information; it's constantly cataloguing and storing information like a massive index system, every once in a while he just needs to shut it all down before it overwhelms him. He uses the TV, his Lego or his comic-books as white noise, focusing on just one thing to calm everything down." Amy felt Sheldon's grip loosen slightly as he relaxed back against the cushions of the couch.

"What about when he freaks out about someone wanting to shake his hand?" Howard asked, Raj having whispered the question into his ear.

"Again, hypersensitivity." Amy replied simply. "He's got a high level of sensitivity to physical and emotional stimuli; every touch is magnified for him and loud voices can be painful for his ears to handle."

"Vulcan hearing…" Leonard stated, nodding as he finally understood why Sheldon hated anyone arguing in his presence. "He said it was just because he developed a keen sense of hearing after being beaten up so much as a child…I never realised it was because noises hurt his ears, I guess that's why he hates whistling."

"No, I just hate you whistling the same tune over and over." Sheldon looked up from his seat and smirked over at his roommate, winking at Amy's sudden grin. "I suppose you want to tell Amy all about all of the other's as well now; might as well get all of my embarrassment over in one fell swoop."

"Raj says he's still not forgiven you for poaching his future wife right out from under his nose." Howard quipped, having relayed his friends' mutterings. Sheldon looked a little confused at the statement and then shook his head slowly as he clucked his tongue.

"She simply joined me at my table as I was eating dinner, her meal was ready at the same time so we combined forces so to speak. If you want to interpret that as a 'date' then that's entirely up to you."

"Sheldon, you called her Princess Panchali!" Raj shouted out across the room, completely forgetting his inability to speak in front of women. "I was humiliated!"

"Rajesh…you were three sheets to the wind, if anyone was humiliated in that bar, it was Lalita. You were completely obnoxious to her and quite intolerable."

"Did you see her again?" Amy asked quietly and Sheldon looked at her in disbelief, had she not been listening to a word that he'd been saying all week; there had been no one else for him in the years they had been apart and if he had 'dated', it certainly wasn't intentional.

"Of course not, as I told Leonard the next day; I already had a dentist and saw no reason to contact her for her services." Amy grinned as she dragged her husband into a warm hug.

"That's my guy… told you he was oblivious, didn't I?" She smirked over at Leonard who grinned in return, sinking back into the comfort of the couch. "Any other 'exes' that I need to be worried about?"

"There was that girl Martha that wanted to sleep with him; Sheldon simply got up and slept in Leonard's room thinking that she just wanted his bed." Raj chuckled and Howard slapped his arm.

"You never told me that one!"

"Dude, I was getting 'busy' if you know what I mean?" Raj leered at his friend and waggled his eyebrows up and down. "I dragged Sheldon to a faculty mixer as my wingman; met a cute girl named Abby who didn't want to go anywhere without her friend, Martha. We brought them back here and played a few rounds of 'Rockband' and Sheldon seemed to get on pretty well with her."

"We had a few interesting conversations; she admired my Green Lantern memorabilia. It's a shame that she wasted her intellect on Humanities." Sheldon mused and Amy chuckled. "Raj wanted to see Abby again but she insisted that Martha came along; I only agreed because Raj gave me his Hulk hands as a bribe."

"Anyway, the girls met us here and all of the sudden Sheldon announces that it was time for him to go to bed; Martha must have taken that as an invitation because she followed him down the hallway."

"It was ten thirty, I always go to bed at ten thirty! How was I to know that she interpreted that as a request for coitus?" Sheldon started twitching anxiously in his spot, and Amy calmed him down by rubbing his shoulder soothingly.

"Settle down, sweetheart. Let's just drop the subject shall we? I think I've learnt enough for now. How about I cook up a nice batch of spaghetti for dinner, sound good?"

"With hot dogs?" Sheldon asked, eyes widening in silent appeal.

"Is there any other way?" Amy pecked him on the cheek and rose up from the couch to head over to the kitchen area. "Anyone else care to join us?"

"I think I'll give it a miss tonight." Howard grimaced a little at the thought of the child like meal and glanced over at Raj. "There's a screening of the original Tron movie playing at the complex in Monrovia, wanna head over and catch the late night showing?"

"Sure, we can grab a burger on the way. What about you, Leonard? Spaghetti and hot dogs or a bacon double deluxe?"

"Hold the cheese and I'm in." Leonard rose up and grabbed his wallet from his desk, calling out to Amy over his shoulder. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm gonna head out with the guys; I'll probably stay over on Raj's couch for the night so I don't disturb you coming in late."

"Okay, see you tomorrow for breakfast. I was thinking French toast in the morning as neither of us are working…seven thirty?" Amy glanced up from the kitchen counter and saw Leonard rubbing his tummy.

"My stomach and I will be here. See you then." Leonard shrugged into his jacket and gave them a quick wave before following Howard and Raj out of the door.


	13. Chapter 13

"Was that really supposed to be your last lecture? You seemed so sure of yourself when I asked when you were next speaking…'Tomorrow' you said when I asked, no hesitation at all." Amy asked softly as she started preparing their meal and Sheldon crossed over to wrap his arms around her from behind, placing a soft kiss to the side of her neck.

"I just blurted out the first thing that came to mind, you took my breath away. I left the lecture hall and went straight to the Dean's office and practically begged him to let me stay on. Only the day before he'd asked whether I would consider extending my time by a few weeks and I practically bit his head off…he must have thought I was off my rocker when I said I'd changed my mind. A few weeks turned into a month and then they just let me stay."

After they finished their meal and clearing everything away, Amy suggested that they could both do with an early night after the disturbance of the last few nights. Sheldon agreed and they snuggled down under the covers, whispering their goodnights and exchanging a gentle kiss.

Sheldon bolted upright in bed in the early hours of Saturday morning and scanned the room wondering what had pulled him out of his deep REM sleep. A girlish shriek and a string of muffled curses drifting from the area of the living room had him throwing back the comforter and slipping on his robe.

"What's going on?" Amy's sleepy voice coming from under the pillow had him going over to pull the covers higher over her shoulders and dropping a kiss to her forehead.

"Ssh, go back to sleep. It's probably just Ritchie watching a horror flick and screaming like a wussy."

"Mmm…'kay." Amy rolled over and buried her head deeper into the bed and Sheldon smiled faintly at her ability to return to sleep with barely even a pause. Before leaving their bedroom Sheldon took a moment to retrieve the small bag containing the pregnancy test kit and left it on Amy's nightstand, setting her glasses carefully on top of the box so that she couldn't deny seeing it. As Sheldon pulled the belt of his robe tighter around his waist he wondered what could have had disturbed Amy's brothers' rest at such an early hour; Ritchie's flight had been delayed so it had been nearly eleven by the time they had left the airport. Sheldon had offered their couch for the night, not wanting Amy to have to drive all the way over to Glendale and then back to Pasadena at such a late hour. They had chatted for a while and finally got to bed around one in the morning; Sheldon checked his watch and saw that it was approaching four o'clock. He rounded the corner of the hallway and came to abrupt halt at the top of the stairs.

"Missy! What on earth are you doing?"

"Shelly, thank God...quick, hand me the phone!" The slender brunette was pinning a tall, broad man to the floor and growling when he simply grinned up at her. "I don't know what you've got to smile about, you're lucky I'm not packin' heat."

"Get off him, Missy." Sheldon ordered brusquely. "You're choking Amy's brother."

"Oh, Lordy..." Missy's face was scarlet as she scrambled off Ritchie's prone body and tried to straighten out her clothing. "I am so sorry, sugar…It was dark and I wasn't expecting anyone to be moving around without a light on."

"That's alright…nicest tackle I've ever had." Ritchie got to his feet and held out his hand. "Richard Fowler, pleased to meet you."

"Missy Cooper." Missy shook Ritchie's hand and gave him a shy smile. "Likewise." Missy glanced over at her brother as she dropped her hand away. "I came instead of Meemaw, she's got a bit of a cold and didn't feel like flying; she sent me with her apologies and a box of goodies."

"Aw, poor Meemaw." Ritchie and Sheldon murmured at the same time, and let out a chuckle. "I hope she's not too poorly." Ritchie added and Missy shook her head.

"It's not too bad, but she didn't want to block her sinuses by being cooped up in a pressurised cabin for four hours. I'm under orders to take a heap of photos and report back on Tuesday. I was hoping to crash on your couch, but I see it's already occupied."

"You can sleep in Leonard's room tonight, he's staying over at Penny's."

"Ooh are they an item again? Penny didn't say anything when we spoke last week." Missy clapped her hands together and squealed in excitement. Sheldon hushed her, glancing back in the direction of the bedroom where Amy was still sleeping.

"It's a recent development; they're currently at the 'on-again' stage of their yo-yo romance; who knows how long it will last for this time. Come on, let's get you settled in before the troops descend for breakfast." Sheldon placed his hand on Missy's shoulder and started steering her in the direction of the bedrooms.

"Wait up, sugar. I need to put Meemaw's pie in the fridge." Missy turned back to grab the box of treats from where she had set it down near the door. She pulled back the flaps and revealed the two Pecan pies sitting on top of a box of cookies. "Sugar cookies and chocolate chunk; she remembered your favourites."

"Goody…I'll hide them away before Penny gets her hands on them." Sheldon tucked the box into the topmost cupboard in the kitchen; somewhere only he was able to reach without having to use a footstool.

"She still helping herself so she doesn't have to buy groceries?"

"Yeah, it stopped for a while when she started dating someone else; but it's bound to get worse now that she's back with Leonard." Sheldon groused, and Missy chuckled lightly. "Ssh, Amy's gone back to sleep and I don't want you waking her up again."

"Aw, that's so sweet…" Missy rubbed her cheek against Sheldon's shoulder affectionately and smiled softly at her brother. "Feels good don't it? Having her back again, I mean?"

"Yeah, it really does." Brother and sister leant their foreheads together a moment before Sheldon gently wrapped a lean arm around Missy's waist and steered her out of the kitchen. "Come on, off to bed for a couple of hours and then you can catch me up with everything that's happening at home over breakfast." Sheldon glanced over his shoulder to where Ritchie was folding back the blanket on the couch. "Not going back to sleep, Ritchie?"

"Nah, too awake now." Ritchie wandered over to the kitchen and started rummaging through the cupboards. "Jeez, Coop...What happened to the Saturday morning bakeathon's? Where's all your good stuff?"

"You're forgetting that Amy and I have only been reunited for a short time, we haven't got into all of our old habits as yet." Sheldon yawned and rubbed a hand over his bristly chin and Ritchie grinned over at his brother-in-law.

"You head on back to bed and I'll go out and grab some stuff for breakfast." He glanced down at his watch and back up at Sheldon. "Croissants or french toast made with brioche?"

"As much as I love your brioche, I don't think Amy would like to wait until nearly ten for breakfast..." Sheldon replied and Ritchie shrugged his shoulders.

"It would be so worth the wait though..."

"Mmm, true." Sheldon twitched a little and Missy homed in on his involuntary reaction immediately.

"Shelly, there something you wanna share with your favourite sister?" She asked softly, moving closer to her brother's side, Sheldon glanced away and then started chewing nervously on his bottom lip. "Sugar, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I know, Missy..." Sheldon leant his forehead slightly forward so that it rested against the crown of his sisters' hair and he hummed lightly under his breath as Missy started rubbing soothing circles around his back. "There's a chance Amy might be pregnant again, only a slight one but a chance nonetheless." Sheldon kept his voice low as not to disturb his sleeping wife but both of his companions heard the tinge of expectation in his voice, and Ritchie caught the underlying tone of worry as well. He stepped forward and gently nudged Missy aside so that he could stand in front of one of his best friends. Ritchie placed his hands on Sheldon's forearms and looked directly into his eyes.

"Sheldon...it's okay." Ritchie had stayed with Sheldon and Amy after Emily's cremation and saw how devastated the younger man had been, especially when Amy had started withdrawing even further away. He knew how much Sheldon had been looking forward to the arrival of his daughter, getting involved with everything from arranging the clothes in the tiny dresser to attending 'Daddy and Baby' classes at the local Y. Sheldon looked down at Ritchie's hands on his arms and felt his defences crumble away. Ritchie felt the trembles in Sheldon's frame and the tears forming behind his eyes, making them look even more luminous than they already were. "It won't make you love Emmy any less, you big lug..." As soon as Ritchie said the words, Sheldon's breath hitched in his throat and he started shaking. Ritchie led Sheldon over to the couch and flung his arm over Sheldon's shoulder, throwing a look over to Missy and jerking his head over to the arm of the couch. Missy crossed over to sit down next to her brother and the pair of them sandwiched Sheldon between them as he sobbed against Ritchie's shoulder.

"Aw sugar...your heart is so big that it's gonna have room to love as many kids as you and Amy choose to have. Emily was your firstborn and nothing can ever take that away...she's always gonna be right there." Missy rubbed her hand over her brother's chest, placing a kiss directly over his heart. "It won't matter if you have one, three or six kids...she's got her own space and it won't make you love the others any more or her less, it just doesn't work like that."

"She's right, Coop." Ritchie murmured quietly as Sheldon's sobs settled down to jerky breaths intersperced with rattly sighs. "Your heart expands to make everything fit."

"I just didn't know that I was even capable of feeling that much emotion." Sheldon finally managed to speak, his voice husky with tears. "First Amy...then Emily...It just filled me with joy and I finally felt complete. When they both were gone, I was so empty and soulless and I don't ever want to feel that way again."

"You won't...I promise." Ritchie tapped Sheldon's shoulder to make him meet his eyes, and Sheldon saw the conviction shining from his brother-in-law. "I promise." Sheldon nodded reluctantly and Ritchie playpunched his arm when he wasn't convinced. "I'm gonna tell you something that I was saving as a surprise for tonight...but you've got to promise to keep it quiet for today."

"You know how I hate secrets!" Sheldon moaned and Ritchie grinned.

"You'll like this one, I hope. I'm no longer on active duty with the Navy...for the foreseeable future I'm gonna be land based, working on a special project for my new team."

"New team, but you love being a Navy pilot!" Sheldon was shocked, he had thought that Ritchie would never want to leave the jetset life of a Navy pilot behind him, but from the look on Ritchie's face he was brimming with excitement for his future.

"Something better came along...My new team is right here in California."

"Here? Doing what?"

"You're not the only one gonna be working out of Cal-Tech this year, Coop." Ritchie grinned and Sheldon started thinking about what the other man could possibly be working on at his University.

"Not engineering, please!" Sheldon hid his face in his hands and groaned aloud, just the thought of Ritchie working with the likes of Howard made his skin crawl.

"Not quite buddy...you're looking at the project leader for a new design of remote controlled exploration craft; I'm gonna be working out of the Jet Propulsion Lab over at La Canada Flintridge; if everything goes well this year then I go onto my new team in Houston."

"You're gonna be working at NASA?"

"Well technically I've been working for NASA for the past eight months, but I got my official transfer papers last week." Ritchie suddenly grinned as Sheldon pulled him into a warm hug.

"You're really gonna be staying in California?" Sheldon murmured against Ritchie's shoulder and felt him nod.

"Yup, you've gotta put up with me for at least a year; maybe more if the first design doesn't quite go to plan." The two men separated and both wiped their eyes, completely unashamed of showing their emotions, and Missy smiled.

"Maybe I can show you around Houston when you get up there." She offered with a slow wink and Ritchie grinned.

"Maybe I'll just take you up on that offer." He flirted back, knowing that a tour of Houston wasn't what was being offered and he saw Missy's smile widen; he opened his mouth to say something else but Sheldon's ears had heard something that he never thought he'd hear again…the unmistakable sound of someone retching in the bathroom…


End file.
